Quantifying Efficiency Loss of Perovskite Solar Cells by a Modified Detailed Balance Model

A modified detailed balance model is built to understand and quantify efficiency loss of perovskite solar cells. The modified model captures the light-absorption-dependent short-circuit current, contact and transport-layer-modified carrier transport, as well as recombination and photon-recycling-influenced open-circuit voltage. The theoretical and experimental results show that for experimentally optimized perovskite solar cells with the power conversion efficiency of 19%, optical loss of 25%, nonradiative recombination loss of 35%, and ohmic loss of 35% are the three dominant loss factors for approaching the 31% efficiency limit of perovskite solar cells. It is also found that the optical loss climbs up to 40% for a thin-active-layer design. Moreover, a misconfigured transport layer introduces above 15% of energy loss. Finally, the perovskite-interface-induced surface recombination, ohmic loss, and current leakage should be further reduced to upgrade device efficiency and eliminate hysteresis effect. This work contributes to fundamental understanding of device physics of perovskite solar cells. The developed model offers a systematic design and analysis tool to photovoltaic science and technology.