Numerical Simulation of Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Dioxide as an Inorganic Hole Transport Layer in Mixed Halide Perovskite Structures Using SCAPS 1-D

Abstract

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) stand out as superior third-generation (III-gen) thin-film energy harvesting structures with high efficiency, optical properties and light transmission ability. However, the need to develop cost-effective, stable and sustainable PSCs is allied to the influence of the absorber layer and charge selective transport layers when achieving semi-transparent (ST) structures. Using SCAPS simulation software that can envisage the conceptuality in devising ST PSCs, this work explores and reports the electrical performance of different methylammonium (MA)-based perovskite structures (FTO/TiO2/PCBM/SnO2/MAPbI3/TiO2:N/PTAA/Spiro-OMeTAD/PEDOT: PSS/Ag). The influence of absorber thickness and defect density is analyzed with optimal parameters. This research reports a novel idea that replaces the polymeric hole transport layer (HTL), such as Spiro-OMeTAD, PEDOT: PSS and PTAA with an air-stable inorganic metal oxide, viz., nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide (TiO2:N). The simulation results depict an attainable power conversion efficiency of 9.92%, 10.11% and 11.54% for the proposed structures with the novel HTL that are on par with polymeric HTLs. Furthermore, the maximum allowable absorber thickness was 600 nm with a threshold defect density of 1 × 1015 cm−3. The optimized electrical parameters can be implemented to develop thin-film light transmission perovskite cells with rational power conversion efficiencies.