Thickness Dependent Performance Optimization of Lead Free and Lead Based Perovskite Solar Cells Using SCAPS-1D

The authors of this article mainly reported on the development and analysis of lead free perovskite based solar cells (PSCs) utilizing methylammonium tin iodide (CH₃NH₃SnI₃) as the light absorbing layer. This can show good performence because of its optical qualities which can absorb the sunlight very efficiently. Moreover, SCAPS-1D tool was used to analyze two dimensional (2D) PSC structure with the configuration of ITO/ZnO/CH₃NH₃SnI₃/NiO/Au (Device I) with standard AM 1.5 G sun irradiation. Furthermore, this device performance was compared with another device based on lead, i.e structure ITO/ZnO/CH₃NH₃PbI₃/NiO/Au (Device. Authors compared the performance with respect to change in absorber thickness in both the devices. Moreover, important photovoltaic figure of merit (FOM) values are explored. They are fill factor (FF), power conversion efficiency (PCE), short circuit current density (Jsc) and open circuit voltage (Voc). Finally, lead free device showed the good performance and this was achieved with a 600 nm thick absorber layer. It showed Voc of 1.037 V, Jsc of 31.87 mA/cm², FF of 84.33 % and a peak efficiency of 27.88 %. This was mainly due to the good charge transport and low recombination rate and good band alignment. Overall, this study shows the potential of CH₃NH₃SnI₃ was a reliable and high efficiency alternative to lead based perovskites for future solar cell applications.