Impact of absorber layer thickness, defect density, and operating temperature on the performance of MAPbI₃ solar cells based on ZnO electron transporting material

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are the novel fourth-generation solar cells, with impressive progress in the last few years. MAPbI₃ is a cost-effective material used as an absorber layer in PSCs. Due to the different diffusion length of carriers, the electron transporting material (ETM) plays a vital role in PSCs' performance. ZnO ETM is a promising candidate for low-cost and high-efficiency photovoltaic technology. In this work, the normal n-i-p planar heterojunction structure has been simulated using SCAPS-1D. The influence of various parameters such as the defect density, the thickness of the MAPbI₃ layer, the temperature on fill factor, the open-circuit voltage, the short circuit current density, and the power conversion efficiency are investigated and discussed in detail. We found that a 21.42% efficiency can be obtained under a thickness of around 0.5 μm, and a total defect of 10¹³ cm^-3 at ambient temperature. These simulation results will help fabricate low-cost, high-efficiency, and low-temperature PSCs.