Simulations and performance analysis of CH3NH3SnI3 perovskite solar cell: Modeling thickness and temperature effects using SCAPS-1D

Solar energy has emerged as an effective renewable source of electricity that reduces carbon emissions and global warming. Conventional solar panels comprise silicon wafers and are vastly used on a commercial basis; however, they do have some drawbacks. Silicon is an indirect band gap material (Eg = 1.12 eV), that lowers its overall absorption and affects the efficiency of the solar cells. Increasing the thickness of existing cells can result in better absorption, but this increases manufacturing cost and complexity. Recently, Perovskite materials have proven to be an effective alternative, as they have better light absorption capability, are readily crystallized as a thin film, and have low cost and higher efficiencies compared to the existing solar technology. Organic/inorganic halide perovskite solar cells are declared the game changer as an alternate energy solution in a concise period claiming efficiencies >20 %. This remarkable progress further highlights the possibility of realizing the potential even deeper. In the Perovskite solar cell structure, Electron Transport Layer (ETL) and Hole transport layer (HTL) is also added to avoid recombination of charge, and maximize absorption. In this paper, we implemented a novel solar cell design on SCAPS-1D, having an optimized parameter composition of FTO/TiO2/CH3NH3SnI3/CuI/Au. The simulation results demonstrated an open circuit voltage (Voc) =1.06 V, Jsc= 32.15 mA/cm2, for FF= 80.43 % and PCE= 27.33 %. We also analyzed the effect of absorber layer thickness and temperature on the performance of the proposed design. The optimized design can not only be useful for the development of a cost-effective and efficient solar cell but also has the potential to advance the field of Perovskite solar cells. Furthermore, we present the mathematical modeling of the proposed solar cell on MATLAB Simulink by mapping the characteristics onto the solar array. Through this modeling, we have developed a solar panel design that can give an output power of 130 W.