Comparative Study of Ge-doped CH3NH3GexPb(1-x) I3 Perovskite Solar Cell By SCAPS-1D Software

Abstract

The methylammonium germanium doped lead iodide (CH<inf>3</inf>NH<inf>3</inf>Ge<inf>x</inf>Pb<inf>(1-x)</inf> I<inf>3</inf>) perovskite based solar cell is simulated using a solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS-1D) software. A comparative study is done to investigate perovskite solar cell (PSC) performance under AM 1.5G illumination. The structure of solar cells consists of Fluorine tin oxide (FTO) / Tin oxide (TiO<inf>2</inf>) / (CH<inf>3</inf>NH<inf>3</inf>GexPb<inf>(1-x)</inf> I<inf>3</inf>) / Cuprous oxide (Cu<inf>2</inf>O) / metal contact. Different configurations of Ge-doped methylammonium lead halide-based PSC have been compared in solar cell capacitance simulators. Thickness, donor concentration, and defect density of the CH<inf>3</inf>NH<inf>3</inf>GexPb<inf>(1-x)</inf>I<inf>3</inf> absorber layer are varied on the solar cell characteristics parameters (Fill factor (FF), Power conversion efficiency (PCE), Current density (J<inf>sc</inf>), Open circuit voltage (V<inf>oc</inf>)) of the solar cell device. Apart from that, the effect of anode metal work function is also investigated in this paper. We have optimized our device at 10¹⁴ cm^&#x2212;3 of defect density, 1000 nm of absorber thickness, and 10¹⁷ cm^&#x2212;3 of donor density. The simulation results show that CH<inf>3</inf>NH<inf>3</inf>Ge<inf>0.875</inf>Pb<inf>0.125</inf>I<inf>3</inf> based optimized PSC achieved the highest efficiency of 29.20 %. Further optimization of defect density (10¹³ cm^&#x2212;3) could give enhanced results of the PCE of 29.89 %, Voc of 1.03 V, FF of 88.3 %, and Jsc of 33.89 mA/cm2. In the last, anode metal contact with a work function greater than 5.0 eV is required to achieve higher efficiency.