Improved Efficiency of non-toxic Cu3BiS3 Thin Film Solar Cell Employing PCBM Electron Transport Layer

In this work, design and numerical simulation results on a new thin-film solar cell structure using an emerging photovoltaic absorber material - Cu3BiS3, is reported. A new structure with PCBM as the electron transport layer (ETL) exhibited significantly improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.13% in comparison to a standard reference cell with n-type CdS layer showing only 6.94% efficiency. The improved cell with the configuration of SLG/Mo/Cu3BiS3/PCBM/AI showed a high open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.627 V, a short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 23.08 mA/cm2, and a fill factor (FF) of 77%. Our results show high potential of Cu3BiS3 to realize efficient, non-toxic, low-cost solar cells.