Improving Photovoltaic Performance by Tuning Interface Band Alignment in CBTS/CH3NH3PBI3/ZnO Perovskite Solar Cells

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Power Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran.

Abstract

This work presents a novel CH3NH3PbI3-based perovskite solar cell structure with low-cost and widely available Cu2BaSnS4 (CBTS) and ZnO materials as charge transport layers (CTLs). A comprehensive analysis was conducted on the performance of the standard CH3NH3PbI3 cell, which comprises FTO/TiO2/CH3NH3PbI3/Spiro-OMeTAD/Au structure, and the suggested structure of FTO/ZnO/CH3NH3PbI3/CBTS/Ni. We evaluated the characteristics of perovskite cells (PCs) by assessing the effect of the bulk defect density of the CH3NH3PbI3 layer and the thicknesses of different layers. Moreover, we examined the impact of interface defects at the CTLs/CH3NH3PbI3 interfaces. The thickness and defect of the CH3NH3PbI3 layer are fine-tuned to 900 nm and 7×1013 cm-3, respectively, resulting in an optimized efficiency of 26.38%. This research demonstrates that incorporating CBTS as a positive charge-transport layer (PCTL) and ZnO as a negative charge transport layer significantly enhances Jsc by establishing proper band alignment with the CH3NH3PbI3 absorber. This enhancement improves cell efficiency by reducing interface carrier recombination. Finally, we assessed the variation of operating temperature, cell parasitic resistances, and rear electrode work function on the efficiency. These results suggest that CBTS and ZnO materials have the potential to serve as CTLs for the production of economical, exceptionally effective solar devices based on CH3NH3PbI3 material.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Journal of Modeling and Simulation in Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Volume 6, Issue 3 - Serial Number 25
In Progree
September 2026
Pages 19-35

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History

  • Receive Date: 21 December 2025
  • Revise Date: 05 May 2026
  • Accept Date: 13 May 2026

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