Towards Enhanced Efficiency of CsSnI3 Lead-Free Perovskite Solar Cells via Embedding Plasmonic Nanoparticles and Back Grooves: FDTD-SCAPS Numerical Simulations

Abstract

Lead-free perovskite solar cells (LFP SCs) emerged as potential alternatives for elaborating high-efficiency eco-friendly photovoltaic systems. However, further improvements in terms of light trapping optimization and short-circuit current should be developed to overcome the efficiency limitation. In this work, a design framework based on coupling plasmon-induced charge separation gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) and light trapping engineering using back grooves is proposed, to enhance the photovoltaic performance of the CsSnI₃ solar cell. Accurate numerical models based on combined Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD)-SCAPS calculations are performed including the influence of Au-NPs and back grooves. In addition, particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique is used to boost up the absorption capabilities of the proposed CsSnI₃ solar cell, where the best distribution of Au-NPs (radius = 38 nm, period = 365 nm) and geometry of back grooves (period = 183 nm, height = 76 nm, and width = 190 nm) are successfully selected. The recorded power conversion efficiency of the proposed CsSnI₃ solar cell could achieve 5.75% and a high short-circuit current of 23.3 mA/cm² is reached by considering the optimized structure. Consequently, the obtained high-photovoltaic properties demonstrate the potential of the proposed design strategy for designing efficient LFP SC by exploiting plasmonic effects combined with light management engineering.