Simulating the Performance of a Formamidinium Based Mixed Cation Lead Halide Perovskite Solar Cell

Abstract

With the aim of decreasing the number of experiments to obtain a perovskite solar cell (PSC) with maximum theoretical efficiency, in this paper, PSC performance was studied using the program solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS-1D). The PSC with the architecture ITO/TiO2/perovskite/spiro-MeOTAD/Au was investigated, while the selected perovskite was mixed cation Rb0.05Cs0.1FA0.85PbI3. The analysis was based on an experimentally prepared solar cell with a power conversion efficiency of ~7%. The PSC performance, verified by short-circuit current density (Jsc), open-circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF) and power conversion efficiency (PCE), was studied by optimization of the simulation parameters responsible for improvement of the cell operation. The optimized parameters were absorber layer thickness, doping, defect concentration and the influence of the resistivity (the net effect of ohmic loss, Rs and the leakage current loss represented by the resistivity, Rshunt). The results of SCAPS-1D simulations estimated the theoretical power conversion efficiency of 15% for our material. We have showed that the main contribution to improvement of solar cell efficiency comes with lowering ohmic resistivity of the cell as well as doping and defect concentration, because their concentration is proportional to recombination rate.

Simulation and Optimization of FAPbI3 Perovskite Solar Cells with a BaTiO3 Layer for Efficiency Enhancement

“…Theoretical simulations were performed using SCAPS-1D software, which is primarily made for the simulation of thin film solar cells but is also widely used for modeling PSCs [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Using SCAPS-1D, we modeled a PSC with an additional BaTiO 3 layer and in the first calculations, we found a PCE of 10%, which is 3% more efficient compared to the PSC we modeled without the BaTiO 3 layer in our previous work [ 11 ]. According to this result, we synthesized a new PSC with a BaTiO 3 layer between the perovskite and TiO 2 layer and we produced a device with an experimental PCE of 11%, which is even 1% higher than the previous simulation result.…”

“…Since we added the BaTiO 3 layer into our previous PSC structure [ 11 ] to improve its performance, the influence of the BaTiO 3 layer thickness on the performance of the PSC was studied in order to find its optimal thickness. We simulated the performance in a range of thickness of the BaTiO 3 layer from 10 to 500 nm, and the results are presented in Figure 3 .…”

“…The influence of raising the doping concentration on the recombination inside the perovskite absorber material is presented in Figure 5 a. The recombination rate is calculated by solving the Poisson and continuity equations in SCAPS-1D software where the doping concentration enters into the Poisson equation, as is described by Equations (1)–(5) in our previous work [ 11 ] and explained in Burgelman et al [ 16 ]. Raising the doping concentration of N A increases the recombination rate that strongly affects the J - V curves, reducing the performance of the device ( Figure 5 b).…”

“…It can simulate solar cell structures and calculate their basic characteristics, such as band diagrams, external quantum efficiency, generation and recombination profiles, cell current densities, J–V characteristics including open-circuit voltages ( Voc ), short-circuit currents ( Jsc ), fill factor ( FF ), and power conversion efficiency ( PCE ). For SCAPS simulations, the input parameters are taken from the literature [ 2 , 11 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ] and our experimental results, which are listed in Table 1 . The interface defects at ETL/absorber and absorber/HTL interfaces are considered neutral and single.…”

“…In a recent research study [ 11 ], we synthesized perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with bare TiO 2, which acts as an electron transport layer with a power conversion efficiency ( PCE ) of 7%, and showed that it can theoretically reach up to 15%. In that study [ 11 ], we discussed in detail the experimental approach for the advancement of the parameters that could lead to an improvement in the PCE . Since we found that the interface between layers considerably influences the PSC, we continue our study in the direction of interface engineering.…”