Design and performance analysis of n-MoS 2 /p-Si heterojunction solar cell for emerging optoelectronic applications

Sustainable, green, clean energy sources based electrical energy conversion is essential to the modern world. A solar cell or photovoltaic cell acts as a major part of that to accomplish the energy interest. Two-dimensional materials such as Molybdenum disulphide (MoS ₂ ) based heterojunction solar cells attracted researchers for their extraordinary chemical, physical, thermal, mechanical, optical, and electrical stability. In this work, we simulated the electrical behavior of n-MoS ₂ /p-Si-based heterojunction-based solar cells with the help of the Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator - One Dimensional (SCAPS-1D) simulation tool. We examine the performance of MoS ₂ -based solar cells by varying the active layer’s thickness, which leads to the changing of the band gap variation in the electron affinity, and explore the performance of devices with different metal contacts. The impact of interfacial defect density, series, and shunt resistance is also evaluated on various working temperatures of the devices. The best combinations of different parameters give an efficiency (η) of 12%, which is sufficiently high enough compared to the previously published experimental work. This will provide essential insight into the development of high-performance solar cells with two dimensional (2D) materials.