Development of CeMnO2 and CeMnO2 buffer layer nanomaterials for CIGSSe/perovskite double-graded solar cells

Abstract

Solar cells are a popular sustainable power source, but their electrical characteristics deteriorate over time due to a lack of UV light absorbent and wide energy bandgap buffer layer materials. Photon collecting in the UV wavelength band remains a difficult problem for making high-performance CIGSSe solar cells. Recently, several researchers have used CdS, Zn (O, S), ZnMnO, and ZnMgO buffer layer materials for making a CIGSSe solar cell. However, these buffer layers have various drawbacks, including a smaller energy bandgap, lower UV light absorption, and heavy metal toxicity. To solve the above problems, we used CeMnO2 buffer-1 and CeMgO2 buffer-2 as hole-reflected layer nanomaterials to create a high-efficiency CIGSSe/perovskite double-graded photovoltaic cell. The materials have a wide energy bandgap, high UV light absorption, and are toxic-free. First, we synthesized and characterized the CeMnO2 and CeMgO2 buffer layer materials; later, we used the extracted optical and electrical properties of both buffer layer nanomaterials to model a proposed high-efficiency solar cell numerically. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) instruments have been used to confirm the average crystallite size, hexagonal cubic fluorite-like structure, surface characteristics, average particle size, and CeMnO2 and CeMgO2 nanomaterial morphology. The optical and electrical properties of both buffer layer materials are determined using ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectrophotometry and Hall Effect measurements. The study proposes a high-efficiency (SLG/Al/ZnMgO:Al/CeMnO2/CeMgO2/CIGSSe/MAFPbBrI/Mo) inorganic and organic solar cell using experimental data of CeMnO2 and CeMgO2 buffer layer nanomaterials. The bandgap energy increases from 3.68 to 3.86 eV for the CeMnO2 buffer-1 layer and from 3.578 to 3.865 eV for the CeMgO2 buffer-2 layer, and the device enhances photovoltaic characteristics, with an efficiency of 29.68 %, JSC of 39.37 mA/cm2, VOC of 873.9 mV, and FF of 86.28.