HIGH-EFFICIENCY OPTIMIZATION OF LEAD-FREE SN-BASED PEROVSKITE SOLAR CELLS USING SCAPS-1D

Abstract

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted much attention due to their good optical absorption and favorable electrical properties. While lead-based PSCs have demonstrated efficiencies up to 26.1%, the toxicity of lead has raised concerns for serious environmental and health impacts. As a result, tin-based perovskites have emerged as a promising solution as a lead-free alternative, albeit one with limited practical application due to stability problems and high defect densities. In this work, heterojunction tin-based perovskite MASnI₃ as the absorber layer was the solar cell numerically designed and optimized by SCAPS-1D simulation tool. A parametric study has been performed in which the thickness of the absorber, the band gap, the density of defects, the concentration of doping and operating temperature of the absorber has been varied to conduct a detailed parametric analysis. The proposed device after some optimization was 24.18% power conversion efficiency, 0.9323 V open circuit voltage,  short circuit current density and fill factor of 84.10%. The results show a dramatic decrease in recombination losses, particularly Shockley-Read-Hall recombination. These results show that tin-based perovskite solar cells can be used as efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to lead-based devices, which is a good basis for future experimental development.