Modelling Interfaces in Thin-Film Photovoltaic Devices

Abstract

Developing effective device architectures for energy technologies—such as solar cells, rechargeable batteries or fuel cells—does not only depend on the performance of a single material, but on the performance of multiple materials working together. A key part of this is understanding the behaviour at the interfaces between these materials. In the context of a solar cell, efficient charge transport across the interface is a pre-requisite for devices with high conversion efficiencies. There are several methods that can be used to simulate interfaces, each with an in-built set of approximations, limitations and length-scales. These methods range from those that consider only composition (e.g. data-driven approaches) to continuum device models (e.g. drift-diffusion models using the Poisson equation) and ab-initio atomistic models (developed using e.g. density functional theory). Here we present an introduction to interface models at various levels of theory, highlighting the capabilities and limitations of each. In addition, we discuss several of the various physical and chemical processes at a heterojunction interface, highlighting the complex nature of the problem and the challenges it presents for theory and simulation.