Numerical designing and performance evaluation of highly efficient SnS based photovoltaic using V2O5 BSF layer

Non-hazardous and earth-plentiful tin sulfide (SnS), a chalcogenide binary compound, is a promising photovoltaic absorber because of its suitable bandgap (1.1–1.4 eV) and high absorption coefficient (> 10 4 cm −1 ). But the unsuitable band alignment with toxic CdS buffer layer and bulk defects implement a huge open circuit voltage (V oc ) loss that limits its efficiency. Therefore, it is vital to search for non-toxic buffer layers that will reduce V oc deficit. In this research, the numerical analysis on a novel FTO/GaSe/SnS/V 2 O 5 /W photovoltaic cell structure has been carried out using one-dimensional Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator (SCAPS-1D) software. Herein, vanadium (V) oxide (V 2 O 5 ) is proposed as a novel back surface field (BSF) layer for SnS-based photovoltaic cell. The characteristics of the proposed photovoltaic structure is explored by altering the thickness, doping density, defect density, interface defect density, back contact work function, temperature and parasitic resistance. The maximum efficiency of 30.04% with short-circuit current density (J sc ) of 34.55 mA/cm 2 , open-circuit voltage (V oc ) of 1.0 V and fill factor (FF) of 86.93% is obtained for the optimized SnS-based solar cell architecture with V 2 O 5 BSF layer. These findings underscore that the proposed V 2 O 5 can be a promising BSF layer to manufacture highly efficient, cost-effective and non-toxic SnS thin-film heterojunction photovoltaics.