Enhanced performance of perovskite solar cell by optimization of thin film control parameters using Taguchi method

Abstract

The objective of the study is to examine the influence of various thin film control parameters on the synthesis of carbon-based passivated perovskite solar cells. Passivation additives, namely MOF UiO-66-NH₂ (20 mg/ml) and inorganic additive KPF₆ (1 mg/ml), were applied to treat the perovskite solar cells simultaneously. A PSC device of a standard configuration FTO/TiO₂/Perovskite layer/Additives/HTL/Carbon electrode is utilized for experimentation. The performance evaluation of the system was carried out using Taguchi method. The critical control parameters considered in the study are: type of perovskite; annealing temperature of perovskite layer; the number of perovskite coating layers; and the type of hole transport layer (HTL). Each parameter is allocated three levels. An orthogonal array was designed using the Taguchi technique to optimize the quality control parameters. The signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were then utilized to determine the ideal combination of parameters. The analysis identified the significant contribution of each parameter to the efficiency of perovskite cells. Among these parameters, the type of perovskite (used in the synthesis process) was found to impact the fabrication and performance of the cells significantly. Furthermore, it was observed that the type of hole transport layer (HTL) employed in the device significantly influences its performance. The best combination for our experiment is found to have FA_0.55MA_0.25Cs_0.20PbI₃ as the perovskite-type, an annealing temperature of 120˚C, a double layer of perovskite coating and Spiro-OMeTAD as the HTL. The solar cell is developed for each experiment as well as the validation test.