Design of MASnI3 perovskite solar cell with chalcogenide ETLs to achieve high photo conversion efficiency of 31.51% using SETFOS

Perovskite solar cells based on organo-metal halides have gained traction as potentially lucrative devices in the global PV sector. However, the toxicity of Lead (Pb) employed in majority of the perovskite materials limits large scale commercial utility of Pb based PSCs in the market sector. In this paper, a lead-free perovskite solar cell is examined where CH3NH3SnI3 is used as an absorber layer due to its excellent optoelectronic and mechanical characteristics. Various eco-friendly emerging metal chalcogenide (sulphide & selenide) compounds ZnS, SnS2, WS2, MoS2, ZnSe, MoSe2 are explored as Electron Transport Layers (ETL) independently, keeping Cu2O as Hole Transport Layer (HTL) for the said photo active layer using SETFOS 5.3. The influence of thickness of absorber layer, ETL, HTL and their respective doping concentrations, Bulk Trap and recombination at interface, series and parallel resistance, top and bottom electrode work function on PSC performance is also investigated. After analyzing several configurations, it is inferred that the device configuration Glass/FTO/SnS2/MASnI3/Cu2O/Au exhibits exceptional performance with a Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) of 31.51796%, Fill Factor (FF) of 86.06018%, a short circuit current density (JSC) of 29.19593 mA/cm2 and an open circuit voltage (VOC) of 1.254858 V.