Performance assessment of earth-abundant Kesterite and lead-free chalcogenide-based perovskite solar cells using SCAPS-1D

Abstract

One of the best-studied ways to produce renewable energy is efficiently converting photons into electrical energy using environmentally acceptable materials. In this theoretical investigation, BaZrS3, an inorganic, non-toxic chalcogenide perovskite, is used as the active layer in heterostructure perovskite photovoltaics, together with TiO2 as ETM and Kesterites as HTM. The SCAPS-1D simulation is adopted to conduct a thorough study and establish the highest PCE of the photovoltaic device. The performance was modified by carefully altering the bandgap, thickness, working temperature, series resistance, shunt resistance, dielectric permittivity, and mobility for the mentioned device. The reported study proved that BaZrS3-based devices are highly stable with temperature changes. Moreover, the observed CBO of 0.1 eV suppresses recombination at the absorber/ETM interface. An analysis of choosing the suitable dielectric constant for the absorber is also performed. Based on absorber energy gap optimization (1.6 eV), the PCEs for CZTSSe, CZTSe, and CZTS devices were 20.68%, 17.31%, and 21.24%, respectively. The present study shows that these materials could be employed as likely replacements for efficient active materials in solar utility with further exploration.