Optimization of ETM and HTM layer on NFA based BHJ-organic solar cell for high efficiency performance

Abstract Simulation has been done using solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS) to investigate the efficiency of Non fullerene acceptor (NFA) based bulk heterojunction organic solar cell (NFA BHJ-OSC) including numerous electron transport layers (ETLs) such as TiO2, SnO2, and C60 and hole transport layers (HTLs) such as CuI, CuSCN, and Cu2O. It was designed to examine its output parameters and features under AM 1.5G illumination. Simulation attempts are concentrated on the active layer thickness and the effect of different ETL and HTL layers on device performance. The results indicates that the absorber thickness of 300 nm is suitable for a good organic solar cell. For optimum parameter of the proposed structures, power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.1826%, 17.3320%, 17.4037%, 22.8169%, 23.0042%, 22.2478%, 24.8272%, 27.9215%, and 24.2447% has been achieved for ETL/HTL combinations of CuI/TiO2, CuI/SnO2, CuI/C60, CuSCN/TiO2, CuSCN/SnO2, CuSCN/C60, Cu2O/TiO2, Cu2O/SnO2, and Cu2O/C60, respectively. From the simulations, the best ETL/HTL combination with PBDB-T/ITIC as absorber layer is SnO2 as ETL layer and Cu2O as HTL layer. The results are motivating to improve NFA BHJ-OSC with Cu2O as HTL and SnO2 as ETL in near future.