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Researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) in Germany say the perovskite-silicon tandem device has a two-terminal configuration and 2D perovskite layers at the bottom interface. It was able to retain about 80% of its initial efficiency for 1,700 h.
A group of researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) in Germany have fabricated a perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell that reportedly achieves efficient charge extraction and interface passivation.
“Perovskite-silicon tandems have convincingly demonstrated their high-performance potential, with many groups already achieving efficiencies of over 30%,” lead author of the research Stefaan De Wolf told pv magazine . “However, translating these results from a laboratory-scale setting to industrially relevant techniques requires attention, especially for solution processing techniques. Here we demonstrate certified efficiencies of over 31% using wafer-coated perovskites. The devices exhibit enhanced performance thanks to the passivation of the contacts using 2D perovskites.”
In the paper, “ Efficient blade-coated perovskite/silicon tandems via interface engineering ,” recently published in Joule , the researchers explain that they used blade coating instead of spin coating, as the latter has scalability issues due to its limited throughput. Specifically, it was used to deposit the 3D perovskite on top of a 2D perovskite layer in the top perovskite device, which had a pin-inverted device configuration.
“By tuning the target dimensionality (n) of the 2D perovskite film, which is made before the 3D perovskite, we minimized the energy level mismatch at the bottom interface, achieved efficient hole extraction, and reduced performance losses in our foil-coated pin devices,” the scientists explained, noting that this configuration helped the top perovskite device achieve a power conversion efficiency of 22.6%, an open-circuit voltage of 1.23 V, and a fill factor (FF) of 82%.
With this device, the research group constructed a 1 cm2 encapsulated tandem device based on an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate, several amorphous silicon (a-Si) layers, a crystalline silicon absorber, a transparent indium zinc oxide (IZO) back contact, the 2D perovskite layer, the foil-coated 3D perovskite layer, a p-phenylenediaminium iodide (PDAI) layer, a thermally evaporated buckminsterfullerene (C60) electron transport layer (ETL), a tin oxide (SnO2) layer, another IZO layer, a magnesium fluoride (MgF2)-based antireflection coating, and a silver (Ag) metal contact.
Tested under standard lighting conditions, this tandem cell also demonstrated that it can retain around 80% of its initial efficiency for 1,700 h under 1 sun. “Our overall strategy, with a robust perovskite composition and a lower 2D interface, enabled us to certify foil-coated tandems for the first time in the literature, with an efficiency of 31.2% measured at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE),” the scientists stated.
KAUST announced in August that it achieved 33.7% efficiency for a perovskite-silicon tandem device using a new perovskite additive known as tetrahydrotriazinium. In 2021, HZB announced that it had fabricated a perovskite-silicon tandem cell with 29.80% efficiency, which at the time was a world record for this cell architecture.
The most efficient tandem device to date is a 34.6% efficient cell unveiled by Chinese manufacturer Longi in September. |
