Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Dioxide as a Hole Transport Layer for High-Efficiency Formamidinium Perovskite Solar Cells

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) offer advantages over widely deployed silicon solar cells in terms of ease of fabrication; however, the device is still under rigorous materials optimization for cell performance, stability, and cost. In this work, we explore a version of a PSC by replacing the polymeri...

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Main Authors: Nitin Ralph Pochont, Yendaluru Raja Sekhar, Kuraganti Vasu, Rajan Jose
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-11-01
Series:Molecules
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/22/7927
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author Nitin Ralph Pochont
Yendaluru Raja Sekhar
Kuraganti Vasu
Rajan Jose
author_facet Nitin Ralph Pochont
Yendaluru Raja Sekhar
Kuraganti Vasu
Rajan Jose
author_sort Nitin Ralph Pochont
collection DOAJ
description Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) offer advantages over widely deployed silicon solar cells in terms of ease of fabrication; however, the device is still under rigorous materials optimization for cell performance, stability, and cost. In this work, we explore a version of a PSC by replacing the polymeric hole transport layer (HTL) such as Spiro-OMeTAD, P3HT, and PEDOT: PSS with a more air-stable metal oxide, viz., nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>:N). Numerical simulations on formamidinium (FA)-based PSCs in the FTO/TiO<sub>2</sub>/FAPbI<sub>3</sub>/Ag configuration have been carried out to depict the behaviour of the HTL as well as the effect of absorber layer thickness (∆t) on photovoltaic parameters. The results show that the cell output increases when the HTL bandgap increases from 2.5 to 3.0 eV. By optimizing the absorber layer thickness and the gradient in defect density (Nt), the device structure considered here can deliver a maximum power conversion efficiency of ~21.38% for a lower HTL bandgap (~2.5 eV) and ~26.99% for a higher HTL bandgap of ~3.0 eV. The results are validated by reproducing the performance of PSCs employing commonly used polymeric HTLs, viz. Spiro-OMeTAD, P3HT, and PEDOT: PSS as well as high power conversion efficiency in the highly crystalline perovskite layer. Therefore, the present study provides high-performing, cost-effective PSCs using TiO<sub>2</sub>:N.
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spelling doaj.art-58709db300e14f37a73084ba9271ca7e2023-11-24T09:23:30ZengMDPI AGMolecules1420-30492022-11-012722792710.3390/molecules27227927Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Dioxide as a Hole Transport Layer for High-Efficiency Formamidinium Perovskite Solar CellsNitin Ralph Pochont0Yendaluru Raja Sekhar1Kuraganti Vasu2Rajan Jose3School of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, IndiaCentre for Disaster Mitigation and Management, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, IndiaDepartment of Physics, School of Advanced Sciences, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, IndiaCenter for Advanced Intelligent Materials, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Kuantan 26300, MalaysiaPerovskite solar cells (PSCs) offer advantages over widely deployed silicon solar cells in terms of ease of fabrication; however, the device is still under rigorous materials optimization for cell performance, stability, and cost. In this work, we explore a version of a PSC by replacing the polymeric hole transport layer (HTL) such as Spiro-OMeTAD, P3HT, and PEDOT: PSS with a more air-stable metal oxide, viz., nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>:N). Numerical simulations on formamidinium (FA)-based PSCs in the FTO/TiO<sub>2</sub>/FAPbI<sub>3</sub>/Ag configuration have been carried out to depict the behaviour of the HTL as well as the effect of absorber layer thickness (∆t) on photovoltaic parameters. The results show that the cell output increases when the HTL bandgap increases from 2.5 to 3.0 eV. By optimizing the absorber layer thickness and the gradient in defect density (Nt), the device structure considered here can deliver a maximum power conversion efficiency of ~21.38% for a lower HTL bandgap (~2.5 eV) and ~26.99% for a higher HTL bandgap of ~3.0 eV. The results are validated by reproducing the performance of PSCs employing commonly used polymeric HTLs, viz. Spiro-OMeTAD, P3HT, and PEDOT: PSS as well as high power conversion efficiency in the highly crystalline perovskite layer. Therefore, the present study provides high-performing, cost-effective PSCs using TiO<sub>2</sub>:N.https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/22/7927perovskite solar celln-i-p structurenitrogen-doped titanium dioxidehole transport layerformamidinium recipeSCAPS simulation
spellingShingle Nitin Ralph Pochont
Yendaluru Raja Sekhar
Kuraganti Vasu
Rajan Jose
Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Dioxide as a Hole Transport Layer for High-Efficiency Formamidinium Perovskite Solar Cells
Molecules
perovskite solar cell
n-i-p structure
nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide
hole transport layer
formamidinium recipe
SCAPS simulation
title Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Dioxide as a Hole Transport Layer for High-Efficiency Formamidinium Perovskite Solar Cells
title_full Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Dioxide as a Hole Transport Layer for High-Efficiency Formamidinium Perovskite Solar Cells
title_fullStr Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Dioxide as a Hole Transport Layer for High-Efficiency Formamidinium Perovskite Solar Cells
title_full_unstemmed Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Dioxide as a Hole Transport Layer for High-Efficiency Formamidinium Perovskite Solar Cells
title_short Nitrogen-Doped Titanium Dioxide as a Hole Transport Layer for High-Efficiency Formamidinium Perovskite Solar Cells
title_sort nitrogen doped titanium dioxide as a hole transport layer for high efficiency formamidinium perovskite solar cells
topic perovskite solar cell
n-i-p structure
nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide
hole transport layer
formamidinium recipe
SCAPS simulation
url https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/22/7927
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