Numerical analysis of FeSi2 based solar cell with PEDOT:PSS hole transport layer

Recently, most of the researchers are showing their interest on Iron di-silicide (FeSi2) based solar cell because, it is an excellent and promising light absorbing material for solar cell applications because of its remarkable characteristics. The inappropriateness of device structure, band alignment at the BSF/absorber and absorber/ buffer interface, as well as carrier recombination at the rear and front contact, prevents the expected result from being achieved. The primary goal of this study is to enhance the performance of uniquely designed Al/ITO/CdS/ FeSi2/PEDOT:PSS/Au solar cell and to scope out the influence of the PEDOT:PSS HTL layer on the performance parameters of open circuit voltage (Voc), short circuit current (Jsc), fill factor (FF), and power conversion efficiency (PCE). The photovoltaic (PV) performance of the proposed photovoltaic cell has been simulated utilizing SCAPS-1D software. In this simulation, the defect densities of each layer and interface defect between HTL/ absorber and absorber/buffer have been added. The impact of the variation of thickness, carrier concentration, electron affinity of the HTL layer, shunt and series resistance, operating temperature, and surface recombination velocity (SRV) on the performance parameters have been studied to avail the better performance. The PCE of 39.44 %, Voc of 938 mV, Jsc of 51.58 mA/cm2 and FF of 81.48 % of the proposed SC have been determined with FeSi2 absorber layer thickness and carrier concentration of 300 nm and 1014 cm-3, correspondingly. The results of this research recommend the guidelines for temperature stable, environment friendly, low cost, and high efficiency FeSi2-based SC.