Optoelectronic investigation and simulation study of zinc and cobalt doped lead halide perovskite nanocrystals

Lead halide perovskite materials have received considerable awareness related to their high efficiency in pho-tovoltaics, but lead has a deleterious environmental impact, calling for its replacement. In this work, an inno-vative facile approach based on the ball milling method was utilized to fabricate less toxic and high-quality CH3NH3Pb1-xYxI3 (where Y = Zn or Co, x = 0 and 0.1) powders by incorporating different types of metal salts, including Zn2+ and Co2+ ions. The resulting nanocrystals are investigated and characterized by XRD, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, FESEM, and TEM instrumentations. The bandgap energy is decreased via zinc doping, less than the pure perovskite and cobalt-based perovskite. After adding zinc and cobalt, improved morphology, crystallization, grain size, optical properties, and photoluminescence characteristics are enhanced. Meanwhile, solar cell simulation software (wxAMPS) was employed to conduct device modeling and theoretical research on the planar regular perovskite photovoltaics. The modeling and study designs of the active layer CH3NH3Pb1-xYxI3 (where Y = Zn or Co, x = 0 and 0.1) were examined. The simulation study of CH3NH3Pb0.9Zn0.1I3 and CH3NH3Pb0.9Zn0.1I3 using (wxAMPS) was introduced for the first time in this research. CH3NH3Pb0.9Co0.1I3 harvested a high compared to the PCE of 21.67 % compared to CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3Pb0.9Zn0.1I3 of 21.25 % and 20.98 %, respectively. Finally, the possibility of the new perovskite semiconductors in creating novel nanostructured superior materials is highlighted by this work.

Automated summary

This study utilized the ball milling method to fabricate less toxic and high-quality lead halide perovskite materials. Zinc doping decreased the bandgap energy and improved the material properties. Meanwhile, simulation research found that cobalt-doped materials had higher photovoltaic conversion efficiency. The work highlighted the potential of new perovskite semiconductors in creating novel nanostructured superior materials.