This paper presents a newly designed ultra-thin, lead-free,
and all-inorganic solar cell structure. The structure was optimized using the SCAPS-1D
simulator, incorporating solid-state layers arranged
as n-graphene/CsSnGeI3/p-graphene. The objective was to investigate the
potential of utilizing n-graphene as the electron transport
layer and p-graphene as the hole transport layer to achieve maximum power conversion efficiency. Various materials for the
electron transport layer were evaluated. The optimized cell structure achieved a
maximum power conversion efficiency of 20.97%. The proposed solar cell structure
demonstrates promising potential as an efficient, inorganic photovoltaic device.
These findings provide important insights for developing and optimizing inorganic
photovoltaic cells based on CsSnGeI3, with n-graphene electron transport
layers and p-graphene hole transport layers.
References
[1]
Weaver, J.F. (2022) World Has Installed 1TW of Solar Capacity. PV Magazine. https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/03/15/humans-have-installed-1-terawatt-of-solar-capacity/
[2]
Weaver, J.F. (2022) Global Annual Solar Deployment to Hit 1 TW by 2030. PV Magazine. https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/05/17/global-annual-solar-deployment-to-hit-1-tw-by-2030/
[3]
Bhattarai, S. and Das, T.D. (2021) Optimization of Carrier Transport Materials for the Performance Enhancement of the MAGeI3 Based Perovskite Solar Cell. Solar Energy, 217, 200-207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2021.02.002
[4]
Azri, F., Meftah, A., Sengouga, N. and Meftah, A. (2019) Electron and Hole Transport Layers Optimization by Numerical Simulation of a Perovskite Solar Cell. Solar Energy, 181, 372-378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2019.02.017
[5]
Burgelman, M., Decock, K., Niemegeers, A., Verschraegen, J. and Degrave, S. (2018) SCAPS Manual, Version: 23. Department of Electronics and Information Systems (ELIS) of the University of Gent, Belgium.
[6]
Jani, R., Islam, T., Al Amin, S.M., Sami, S.U., et al. (2020) Exploring Solar Cell Performance of Inorganic Cs2TiBr6 Halide Double Perovskite: A Numerical Study. Superlattices and Microstructures, 146, Article ID: 106652. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spmi.2020.106652
[7]
Jebakumar, J.P.A., Moni, D.J., Gracia, D. and Shallet, M.D. et al. (2022) Design and Simulation of Inorganic Perovskite Solar Cell. Applied Nanoscience, 12, 1507-1518. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-021-02268-7
[8]
Li, Z. and Yang, Y. (2020). Recent Advances in Inorganic Perovskite Solar Cells. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 8, 4278-4297.
[9]
Wang, X., Song, Z. and Zeng, H. (2020) Recent Progress in Inorganic Halide Perovskite Solar Cells. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 8, 16121-16145.
[10]
Xiong, H. and Sun, L. (2021) Inorganic Halide Perovskites: Materials for High-Efficiency Solar Cells. Advanced Energy Materials, 11, Article ID: 2100406.
[11]
Zhou, Y., Wang, C., Liu, X., Cai, B. and Zeng, H. (2020) Inorganic Perovskite Materials for Photovoltaic Applications. Science China Materials, 63, 2235-2267.
[12]
Li, X. and Zhang, Z. (2020) Perovskite Solar Cells: A Review of Recent Progress and Perspective. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 8, 23792-23820.
[13]
Ubeid, M.F. and Shabat, M.M. (2015) Numerical Investigation of a D-Shape Optical Fiber Sensor Containing Graphene. Applied Physics A, 118, 1113-1118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-014-8925-y
[14]
Shukla, V. (2020) Observation of Critical Magnetic Behavior in 2D Carbon Based Composites. Nanoscale Advances, 2, 962-990. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9NA00663J
[15]
Alkuam, E. (2021) Preparation of Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes/Graphene Composites with Cadmium Sulfide in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs). Advances in Materials Physics and Chemistry, 11, 111-119. https://doi.org/10.4236/ampc.2021.116011
[16]
Adhikari, S., Zhu, R. and Umeno, M. (2021) Direct Synthesis of Graphene on Silicon at Low Temperature for Schottky Junction Solar Cells. Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, 9, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.4236/msce.2021.910001
[17]
Tiwari, S.K., Sahoo, S., Wang, N. and Huczko, A. (2020) Graphene Research and Their Outputs: Status and Prospect. Journal of Science: Advanced Materials and Devices, 5, 10-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsamd.2020.01.006
[18]
Bhuyan, M.S.A., Uddin, M.N., Islam, M.M., Bipasha, F.A. and Hossain, S.S. (2016) Synthesis of Graphene. International Nano Letters, 6, 65-83. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40089-015-0176-1
[19]
Balandin, A.A., et al. (2008) Superior Thermal Conductivity of Single-Layer Graphene. Nano Letters, 8, 902-907. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl0731872
[20]
Guirguis, A., Maina, J.W., Zhang, X., Henderson, L.C. Kong, L., Shon, H. and Dumée, L.F. (2020) Applications of Nano-Porous Graphene Materials—Critical Review on Performance and Challenges. Materials Horizons, 7, 1218-1245. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9MH01570A
[21]
Mehrabian, M., Afshar, E.N. and Yousefzadeh, S.A. (2021) Simulating the Thickness Effect of the Graphene Oxide Layer in CsPbBr3-Based Solar Cells. Materials Research Express, 8, Article ID: 035509. https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1591/abf080
[22]
Hong, J.A., Jung, E.D., et al. (2020) Improved Efficiency of Perovskite Solar Cells Using a Nitrogen-Doped Graphene-Oxide-Treated Tin Oxide Layer. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 12, 2417-2423. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b17705
[23]
Gagandeep, Singh, M. and Kumar, R. (2018) Simulation of Perovskite Solar Cell with Graphene as Hole Transporting Material. AIP Conference Proceedings, 2115, Article ID: 030548. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5113387
[24]
Sabbah, H. (2022) Numerical Simulation of 30% Efficient Lead-Free Perovskite CsSnGeI3-Based Solar Cells. Materials, 15, Article No. 3229. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15093229
[25]
Thomas, T. (2021) Numerical Analysis of CsSnGeI3 Perovskite Solar Cells Using SCAPS-1D. International Journal of Energy and Power Engineering, 10, 87-95. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepe.20211005.12
[26]
Ahmed, M.I., Hussain, Z., Mujahid, M., et al. (2016) Low Resistivity ZnO-GO Electron Transport Layer Based CH3NH3PbI3 Solar Cells. AIP Advances, 6, Article ID: 065303. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4953397
[27]
Rahman, M.S., Miah, S., Marma, M.S.W. and Sabrina, T. (2019) Simulation Based Investigation of Inverted Planar Perovskite Solar Cell with All Metal Oxide Inorganic Transport Layers. 2019 International Conference on Electrical, Computer and Communication Engineering (ECCE), Cox’s Bazar, 7-9 February 2019, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1109/ECACE.2019.8679283
[28]
Kim, Y., Seo, J.Y., Park, J., Jeon, N.J. and Park, T. (2019) Recent Progress in High-Efficiency Inorganic Perovskite Solar Cells. Materials Today Energy, 13, 186-207.
[29]
Ravidas, B.K., Roy, M.K. and Samajdar, D.P. (2023) Investigation of Photovoltaic Performance of Lead-Free CsSnI3-Based Perovskite Solar Cell with Different Hole Transport Layers: First Principle Calculations and SCAPS-1D Analysis. Solar Energy, 249, 163-173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2022.11.025
[30]
Ye, T., Wang, K., Hou, Y., et al. (2021) Ambient-Air-Stable Lead-Free CsSnI3 Solar Cells with Greater than 7.5% Efficiency. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 143, 4319-4328. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c13069