Comparative Performance Study of Perovskite Solar Cell for Different Electron Transport Materials

Abstract

In recent times, planar organo-metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) achieved high power conversion efficiency (PCE > 22%). Mixed organic-inorganic halide perovskites, with excellent light harvesting properties, have evolved as a promising class of semiconductors for photovoltaics. In this work, compositional and electrical characterizations of materials used for different layers of PSC have been studied. One dimensional solar cell simulator wx-AMPS is used for numerical simulation of such devices and all simulations are done under AM1.5 illuminations and 300K temperature. Investigating the influences of thickness of electron transport material (ETM), hole transporting material (HTM) and absorber on the photovoltaic performance of PSCs, it is observed that, increase in thickness of perovskite (MAPbI₃) results in the increase in PCE of solar cells, whereas increase in thickness of ETM layer results in decrease in the efficiency of the devices. The ETM plays a vital role on the performance of PSC. In this paper, for the first time performances of PSC for three different ETMs (TiO₂, ZnO or SnO₂) are calculated and analyzed simultaneously with the simulator wx-AMPS. The photovoltaic performances have been explored and efficiencies of 27.6%, 27.5% and 28.02% are reported for perovskite solar cells with TiO₂, ZnO and SnO2 as ETM respectively for a specific thickness. Finally, this simulation study concludes that ZnO and SnO₂ may be effective alternatives of the commonly used material, TiO₂ as they are economically more potential and give somewhat better photovoltaic performance.

Dhaka Univ. J. Sci. 66(2): 109-114, 2018 (July)