High-performance lead-free perovskite photovoltaic cell via ZnO/C 60 interface and CZTS as a transport layer

Abstract The growing environmental issues of lead-based perovskite solar cells have spurred efforts to develop more sustainable and efficient renewable energy technologies. In this work, a detailed numerical simulation of a new lead-free perovskite solar cell architecture, with a perovskite absorber material of methylammonium tin iodide (MASnI 3 ), is carried out on the device modeling platform SCAPS-1D. The main innovation is the strategic integration of a bilayer electron transport (ZnO/C 60 ) structure, and inorganic hole transport material (Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 ), which improves charge extraction and recombination suppression. The optimized FTO/ZnO/C 60 /MASnI 3 /CZTS/Au device architecture demonstrated an excellent performance of 28.65% power conversion efficiency, 0.98 V open circuit voltage, 33.588 mA cm −2 short circuit current density, and 85.09% fill factor. The results herein show that the synergistic effect of the ZnO/C 60 and CZTS layers is an attractive route for commercial competitive environmentally friendly tin-based perovskite PV devices.