Improved eco-friendly CsSn0.5Ge0.5I3 perovskite photovoltaic efficiency beyond 20% with SMe-TATPyr hole-transporting layer

Mustafa K A Mohammed; Moaed E Al-Gazally; Omar A Khaleel; Ali K Al-Mousoi; Zuhair Mohammed Ali Jeddoa; Hasan Sh Majdi; Majid S Jabir; M Khalid Hossain; Mohammad Rafe Hatshan; Md Ferdous Rahman; Davoud Dastan

doi:10.1039/d3cp05445d

Improved eco-friendly CsSn_0.5Ge_0.5I₃ perovskite photovoltaic efficiency beyond 20% with SMe-TATPyr hole-transporting layer

Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2024 Jan 24;26(4):3229-3239. doi: 10.1039/d3cp05445d.

Affiliations

¹ College of Remote Sensing and Geophysics, Al-Karkh University of Science, Baghdad 10011, Iraq. mustafa_kareem97@yahoo.com.
² Department of Chemistry, University of Al-Ameed, Karbala 56001, Iraq.
³ Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Al-Iraqia University, Baghdad 10011, Iraq.
⁴ Department of Basic Sciences, Al-Zahraa University for Women, Karbala 56001, Iraq.
⁵ Department of Chemical Engineering and Petroleum Industries, Al-Mustaqbal University, Babylon 51001, Iraq.
⁶ Applied Science Department, University of Technology-Iraq, 10011 Baghdad, Iraq.
⁷ Institute of Electronics, Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Dhaka 1349, Bangladesh.
⁸ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Advanced Energy Materials and Solar Cell Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur 5400, Bangladesh.
¹⁰ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA.

PMID: 38193862
DOI: 10.1039/d3cp05445d

Abstract

Perovskites composed of inorganic cesium (Cs) halide provide a route to thermally resistant solar cells. Nevertheless, the use of hole-transporting layers (HTLs) with hydrophobic additives is constrained by moisture-induced phase deterioration. Due to significant electrical loss, dopant-free HTLs are unable to produce practical solar cells. In this article, we designed a two-dimensional 1,3,6,8-tetrakis[5-(N,N-di(p-(methylthio)phenyl)amino-p-phenyl)-thiophen-2-yl]pyrene (termed SMe-TATPyr) molecule as a new HTL to regulate electrical loss in lead-free perovskite solar cells (PSCs). We optimized the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of PSCs based on mixed tin (Sn)/germanium (Ge) halide perovskite (CsSn_0.5Ge_0.5I₃) by exploring different factors, such as the deep and shallow levels of defects, density of states at the valence band (N_V), thickness of the perovskite film, p-type doping concentration (N_A) of HTL, the series and shunt resistances, and so on. We carried out comparative research by employing the 1D-SCAPS (a solar cell capacitance simulator) analysis tool. Through optimization of the PSC, we obtained the highest parameters in the simulated solar cell structure of fluorine tin oxide (FTO)/titanium dioxide (TiO₂)/CsSn_0.5Ge_0.5I₃/SMe-TATPyr/gold (Au), and the PCE reached up to 20% with a fill factor (FF) of 81.89%.