An Indian research team has simulated a solar cell based on a lead-free perovskite material known as KSnI3 and found that the device can achieve remarkable efficiency and stability. The cell was tested with different types of electron transport layers and hole transport layers.
KSnI3 is a lead-free perovskite material that has already been used in solar cell applications in previous studies. “This is not the first attempt to build cells based on KSnI3“, the corresponding author of the study, Grishma Pindolia, said pv magazine. “Two more publications have been published in 2023, which show the potential of KSnI3 as an absorbing material in solar cells.”
The team used an organic electron transport layer (ETL) with optimized defect content and improved interface and doping density for the solar cell, claiming that the use of this ETL is cheaper than the use of inorganic ETLs based on materials such as titanium oxide (TiO).2). “Inorganic charge transport layers (ETLs) require complex deposition techniques that are not very cost-friendly, and the reported efficiencies of perovskite solar cells with organic ETL cells are higher than those with inorganic CTLs,” it explained.
Scientists used a numerical module and SCAPS-1D sun- cell capacitance dance phardwarewhich is a simulation tool for thin film solar cells developed by Ghent University in Belgium, simulate a solar cell using either ETL phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) or buckminsterfullerene (C60). They also tested organic HTLs based on spiro-OMeTAD, polytriarylamine (PTAA), polymer Regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)BEASTS: PSS and D-PBTTT-14.
“We optimized the defect concentration of the layers and interfaces, the doping density and thickness of the layers, and the shunt and series resistance of the device,” the researchers said, noting that they also used a gold (Au) metal contact and a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate for the solar cell. “Optimized thickness of PTAA, KSnI3and C60 were 30 nm, 980 nm and 10 nm.
In their simulation, the researchers found that the device can achieve a power conversion efficiency of 10.83 percent and a duty cycle of 80.8 percent. It can also achieve a breakdown voltage of 0.76788V and a short circuit current of 17.44879mA/cm2.
The device is presented in the magazine “Effect of organic charge transfer layers on lead-free KSnI3 perovskite-based solar cell,” published Results in Optics. “The current work may be useful for the design of lead-free, non-toxic tin-based perovskite solar cells in the future,” the research team concluded.
