Impact of absorber layer thickness and defect density on the performance of MAPbI3 solar cells based on CuO2 as hole transport material

Abstract Perovskite solar cells are a promising next-generation solar energy harvester because of their excellent photovoltaic performance and simple fabrication procedure. The high power conversion efficiency of this cell, together with its low cost of materials and processes, differentiates it from commercial silicon or other organic and inorganic solar cells. In this work, numerical simulation was performed using Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator (SCAPS)−1D for the device structure (FTO/HTM/ CH 3 NH 3 P b I 3 /ETM/Au) to analyze the impact of absorber layer thickness and defect density on various parameters of Photovoltaic cells. The purpose of this research was to explore the properties of CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 -based solar cells with different HTM layers, such as Cu 2 O and ETM layers, such as SnO 2 , TiO 2 , and ZnO, respectively. Additionally, the thicknesses of the perovskite absorber are adjusted to obtain the highest photovoltaic efficiency, and the impact of the defect at the perovskite absorber layer on solar cell performance is also investigated. According to the findings of this article, the thickness of the absorber layer and defect density in a perovskite solar cell had a significant impact on JSC, FF, VOC, and efficiency. The findings show a substantial gain in efficiency (18%) when the ETM layer is ZnO. As the defect density of the absorber layer increases, the JSC, VOC, FF, and PCE values of perovskite solar cells decrease considerably. According to our findings, the ZnO as ETM is the most likely to provide a high photovoltaic (PV) efficiency when combined with Cu 2 O-based HTM.