Towards efficient tandem solar cells based on lead-free and inorganics perovskite absorbers

Hayat Arbouz

Article ID: 2000
Vol 6, Issue 1, 2023

VIEWS - 514 (Abstract) 360 (PDF)

Abstract


In this paper, we modeled and simulated two tandem solar cell structures (a) and (b), in a two-terminal configuration based on inorganic and lead-free absorber materials. The structures are composed of sub-cells already studied in our previous work, where we simulated the impact of defect density and recombination rate at the interfaces, as well as that of the thicknesses of the charge transport and absorber layers, on the photovoltaic performance. We also studied the performance resulting from the use of different materials for the electron and hole transport layers. The two structures studied include a bottom cell based on the perovskite material CsSnI3 with a band gap energy of 1.3 eV and a thickness of 1.5 µm. The first structure has an upper sub-cell based on the CsSnGeI3 material with an energy of 1.5 eV, while the second has an upper sub-cell made of Cs2TiBr6 with a band gap energy of 1.6 eV. The theoretical model used to evaluate the photocurrent density, current-voltage characteristic, and photovoltaic parameters of the constituent sub-cells and the tandem device was described. Current matching analysis was performed to find the ideal combination of absorber thicknesses that allows the same current density to be shared. An efficiency of 29.8% was obtained with a short circuit current density Jsc = 19.92 mA/cm2, an open circuit potential Voc = 1.46 V and a form factor FF = 91.5% with the first structure (a), for a top absorber thickness of CsSnGeI3 of 190 nm, while an efficiency of 26.8% with Jsc = 16.74, Voc = 1.50 V and FF = 91.4% was obtained with the second structure (b), for a top absorber thickness of Cs2TiBr6 of 300 nm. The objective of this study is to develop efficient, low-cost, stable and non-toxic tandem devices based on lead-free and inorganic perovskite.


Keywords


Perovskite; Solar Cell; Photovoltaics; Tandem; Organic-inorganic

Full Text:

PDF


References


1. Petroleum Economist. COVID-19 puts African energy on pause [Internet]. London: Petroleum Economist; 2020. Available from: https://pemedianetwork.com/petroleum-economist/articles/upstream/2020/covid-19-puts-african-energy-on-pause/.

2. Hoang AT, Nižetić S, Olcer AI, et al. Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the global energy system and the shift progress to renewable energy: Opportunities challenges and policy implications. Energy Policy 2021; 154: 112322. doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112322.

3. Richter A, Müller R, Benick J, et al. Design rules for high-efficiency both-sides-contacted silicon solar cells with balanced charge carrier transport and recombination losses. Nature Energy 2021; 6(4): 429–438. doi: 10.1038/s41560-021-00805-w.

4. You P, Tang G, Yan F. Two-dimensional materials in perovskite solar cells. Materials Today Energy 2019; 11: 128–158. doi: 10.1016/j.mtener.2018.11.006.

5. Tong G, Ono LK, Qi Y. Recent progress of all bromide inorganic perovskite solar cells. Energy Technology 2019; 8(4): 1900961. doi: 10.1002/ente.201900961.

6. Wang S, Wang A, Hao F. Toward stable lead halide perovskite solar cells: A knob on the A/X sites components. iScience 2022; 25(1): 103599. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103599.

7. Li J, Duan J, Yang X, et al. Review on recent progress of lead-free halide perovskites in optoelectronic applications. Nano Energy 2021; 80: 105526. doi: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.105526.

8. Wang K, Zheng L, Hou Y, et al. Overcoming Shockley-Queisser limit using halide perovskite platform. Joule 2022; 6(4): 756–771. doi: 10.1016/j.joule.2022.01.009.

9. Chen Q, Marco ND, Yang Y, et al. Under the spotlight: The organic-inorganic hybrid halide perovskite for optoelectronic applications. Nano Today 2015; 10(3): 355–396. doi: 10.1016/j.nantod.2015.04.009.

10. Duan L, Walter D, Chang N, et al. Stability challenges for the commercialization of perovskite—Silicon tandem solar cells. Nature Reviews Materials 2023; 8: 261–281. doi: 10.1038/s41578-022-00521-1.

11. Jošt M, Köhnen E, Al-Ashouri A, et al. Perovskite/CIGS tandem solar cells: From certified 24.2% toward 30% and beyond. ACS Energy Letters 2022; 7(4): 1298–1307. doi: 10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00274.

12. Arbouz H. Optimization of lead-free CsSnI3-based perovskite solar cell structure. Applied Rheology 2023; 33(1): 20220138. doi: 10.1515/arh-2022-0138.

13. Arbouz H. Simulation and optimization of a lead-free CS2TiBr6 perovskite solar cell structure. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Electrical Computer Communications and Mechatronics Engineering; 2022 Nov 16–18; Malé. New York: IEEE; 2022. p. 1–6.

14. Li D, Song L, Chen Y, et al. Modeling thin film solar cells: From organic to perovskite. Advanced Science 2019; 7(1): 1901397. doi: 10.1002/advs.201901397.

15. Sam R, Diasso A, Zouma B, Zougmoré F. 2D modeling of solar cell p-n radial junction: Study of photocurrent density and quantum efficiency in static mode under monochromatic illumination. Smart Grid and Renewable Energy 2020; 11(12): 191–200. doi: 10.4236/sgre.2020.1112012.

16. Kumar A, Singh S, Mohammed MK, Shalan AE. Computational modelling of two terminal CIGS/Perovskite tandem solar cells with power conversion efficiency of 23.1%. European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry 2021; 2021(47): 4959–4969. doi: 10.1002/ejic.202100214.

17. Viezbicke BD, Patel S, Davis BE, Birnie III DP. Evaluation of the Tauc method for optical absorption edge determination: ZnO thin films as a model system. Physica Status Solidi B 2015; 252(8): 1700–1710. doi: 10.1002/pssb.201552007.

18. Courel M, Andrade-Arvizu JA, Vigil-Galán O. Towards a CdS/Cu2ZnSnS4 solar cell efficiency improvement: A theoretical approach. Applied Physics Letters 2014; 105(23): 233501. doi: 10.1063/1.4903826.

19. Hermerschmidt F, Savva A, Georgiou E, et al. Influence of the hole transporting layer on the thermal stability of inverted organic photovoltaics using accelerated-heat lifetime protocols. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 2017; 9(16): 14136–14144. doi: 10.1021/acsami.7b01183.

20. Cao Q, Li Y, Zhang H, et al. Efficient and stable inverted perovskite solar cells with very high fill factors via incorporation of star-shaped polymer. Science Advances 2021; 7(28). doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abg0633.

21. Arbouz H. Modeling of a tandem solar cell structure based on CZTS and CZTSe absorber materials. International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering 2022; 8(1): 14–18. doi: 10.22399/ijcesen.843038.

22. Bansal S, Aryal P. Evaluation of new materials for electron and hole transport layers in perovskite-based solar cells through SCAPS-1D simulations. In: Proceedings of the 43rd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC); 2016 Jun 5–10; Portland. New York: IEEE; 2016. p. 0747–0750.

23. Jani MR, Islam MT, Al Amin SM, et al. Exploring solar cell performance of inorganic Cs2TiBr6 halide double perovskite: A numerical study. Superlattices and Microstructures 2020; 146: 106652. doi: 10.1016/j.spmi.2020.106652.

24. Lin S, Zhang B, Lü TY, et al. Inorganic lead-free B-γ-CsSnI3 perovskite solar cells using diverse electron-transporting materials: A simulation study. ACS Omega 2021; 6(40): 26689–26698. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c04096.

25. Singh N, Agarwal A, Agarwal M. Numerical simulation of highly efficient lead-free perovskite layers for the application of all-perovskite multi-junction solar cell. Superlattices and Microstructures 2021; 149: 106750. doi: 10.1016/j.spmi.2020.106750.

26. Moiz SA. Optimization of hole and electron transport layer for highly efficient lead-free Cs2TiBr6-based perovskite solar cell. Photonics 2022; 9(1): 23. doi: 10.3390/photonics9010023.

27. Islam MT, Jani MR, Rahman S, et al. Investigation of non-Pb all-perovskite 4-T mechanically stacked and 2-T monolithic tandem solar devices utilizing SCAPS simulation. SN Applied Sciences 2021; 3: 504. doi: 10.1007/s42452-021-04487-7.

28. Madan J, Shivani, Pandey R, Sharma R. Device simulation of 17.3% efficient lead-free all-perovskite tandem solar cell. Solar Energy 2020; 197: 212–221. doi: 10.1016/j.solener.2020.01.006.

29. Kumar A, Singh S, Mohammed MKA, Shalan AE. Computational modelling of two terminal CIGS/perovskite tandem solar cells with power conversion efficiency of 23.1%. European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry 2021; 47: 4959–4969. doi: 10.1002/ejic.202100214.

30. Xiao K, Lin R, Han Q. et al. All-perovskite tandem solar cells with 24.2% certified efficiency and area over 1 cm using surface-anchoring zwitterionic antioxidant. Nature Energy 2020; 5: 870–880. doi: 10.1038/s41560-020-00705-5.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.24294/tse.v6i1.2000

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2023 Hayat Arbouz

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.