Numerical Assessment of Dust-Induced Photovoltaic Losses and Lotus-Inspired Self-Cleaning in SnO₂/CsPbI₂Br/CuI Perovskite Solar Cells

Abstract

Surface soiling can reduce the optical irradiance incident on photovoltaic absorbers and thereby lower energy yield. This study numerically evaluates the effects of dust-induced optical attenuation and operating temperature on a SnO₂/CsPbI₂Br/CuI perovskite solar cell using the Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator (SCAPS-1D). The simulated device employed a 500 nm CsPbI₂Br absorber between SnO₂ and CuI transport layers and was evaluated under AM1.5G illumination at 300–400 K. Surface contamination was represented by neutral-density optical transmission levels of 50–100%, corresponding to 50–0% modeled optical attenuation. A simplified self-cleaning model was introduced by assuming removal efficiencies of 30%, 50%, 70%, and 90% of the modeled deposited dust fraction. Temperature primarily affected the electrical parameters:   decreased with temperature, whereas FF increased. In contrast, optical attenuation produced an approximately proportional reduction in  and maximum power while causing comparatively small changes in  and FF. At 300 K, reducing transmission from 100% to 50% reduced  from 14.879 to 7.4395 mA cm⁻² and reduced maximum power density from approximately 14.63 to 7.35 mW cm⁻². At 50% transmission, the modeled cleaning efficiencies of 30%, 50%, 70%, and 90% corresponded to approximately 65%, 75%, 85%, and 95% power retention, respectively. The results indicate that the modeled soiling loss is predominantly optical and that maintaining surface transmission can substantially mitigate the associated power loss. The model is a first-order representation of optical cleaning and requires experimental and wavelength-resolved validation.