Modeling and designing multilayer 2D perovskite / silicon bifacial tandem photovoltaics for high efficiencies and long-term stability

Journal Article · Tue Mar 14 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Optics Express

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.25.00A311· OSTI ID:1579879

Chung, Haejun ^[1]; Sun, Xingshu ^[1]; Mohite, Aditya D. ^[2]; Singh, Rahul ^[3]; Kumar, Lokendra ^[4]; Alam, Muhammad A. ^[1]; Bermel, Peter ^[1]

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1. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
3. Univ. of Malaya (Malaysia)
4. Science Faculty Univ. of Allahabad (India)

A key challenge in photovoltaics today is to develop cell technologies with both higher efficiencies and lower fabrication costs than incumbent crystalline silicon (c-Si) singlejunction cells. While tandem cells have higher efficiencies than c-Si alone, it is generally challenging to find a low-cost, high-performance material to pair with c-Si. However, the recent emergence of 22% efficient perovskite photovoltaics has created a tremendous opportunity for high-performance, low-cost perovskite / crystalline silicon tandem photovoltaic cells. Nonetheless, two key challenges remain. First, integrating perovskites into tandem structures has not yet been demonstrated to yield performance exceeding commercially available crystalline silicon modules. Second, the stability of perovskites is inconsistent with the needs of most end-users, who install photovoltaic modules to produce power for 25 years or more. Making these cells viable thus requires innovation in materials processing, device design, fabrication, and yield. We will address these two gaps in the photovoltaic literature by investigating new types of 2D perovskite materials with n-butylammonium spacer layers, and integrating these materials into bifacial tandem solar cells providing at least 30% normalized power production. We find that an optimized 2D perovskite ((BA)₂(MA)₃(Sn_0.6Pb_0.4)₄I₁₃)/silicon bifacial tandem cell, given a globally average albedo of 30%, yields a normalized power production of 30.31%, which should be stable for extended time periods without further change in materials or encapsulation.

• Research Organization: Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Grant/Contract Number: EE0004946
• OSTI ID: 1579879
• Journal Information: Optics Express, Vol. 25, Issue 8; ISSN 1094-4087
• Publisher: Optical Society of America (OSA)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY