Bi and Sn Doping Improved the Structural, Optical and Photovoltaic Properties of MAPbI3-Based Perovskite Solar Cells

Muhammad I Khan; Sumra Yasmin; Norah Alwadai; Muhammad Irfan; Ikram-Ul-Haq; Hind Albalawi; Aljawhara H Almuqrin; Maha M Almoneef; Munawar Iqbal

doi:10.3390/ma15155216

Bi and Sn Doping Improved the Structural, Optical and Photovoltaic Properties of MAPbI₃-Based Perovskite Solar Cells

Materials (Basel). 2022 Jul 28;15(15):5216. doi: 10.3390/ma15155216.

Authors

Muhammad I Khan¹, Sumra Yasmin¹, Norah Alwadai², Muhammad Irfan¹, Ikram-Ul-Haq¹, Hind Albalawi², Aljawhara H Almuqrin², Maha M Almoneef², Munawar Iqbal³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, The University of Lahore, Lahore 53700, Pakistan.
² Department of Physics, College of Sciences, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Chemistry, The University of Lahore, Lahore 53700, Pakistan.

Abstract

One of the most amazing photovoltaic technologies for the future is the organic-inorganic lead halide perovskite solar cell, which exhibits excellent power conversion efficiency (PCE) and can be produced using a straightforward solution technique. Toxic lead in perovskite can be replaced by non-toxic alkaline earth metal cations because they keep the charge balance in the material and some of them match the Goldschmidt rule's tolerance factor. Therefore, thin films of MAPbI₃, 1% Bi and 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% Sn co-doped MAPbI₃ were deposited on FTO-glass substrates by sol-gel spin-coating technique. XRD confirmed the co-doping of Bi-Sn in MAPbI₃. The 1% Bi and 1% Sn co-doped film had a large grain size. The optical properties were calculated by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The 1% Bi and 1% Sn co-doped film had small E_g, which make it a good material for perovskite solar cells. These films were made into perovskite solar cells. The pure MAPbI₃ film-based solar cell had a current density (J_sc) of 9.71 MA-cm^-2, its open-circuit voltage (V_oc) was 1.18 V, its fill factor (FF) was 0.609 and its efficiency (η) was 6.98%. All of these parameters were improved by the co-doping of Bi-Sn. The cell made from a co-doped MAPbI₃ film with 1% Bi and 1% Sn had a high efficiency (10.03%).

Keywords: Bi; MAPbI3; Sn; perovskite solar cells.

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, through the Research Groups Program Grant no. (RGP-1443-0039).