Our perspective on the Electrode Metallization for industrial scale Perovskite/Silicon Tandems is published now in Progress in Photovoltaics. The focus of the study reveals the challenges and opportunities of scaled metallization in terms of grid design to mitigate the power losses, adopting state-of-the-art screen-printed metallization as well as cost-effective alternate metallization routes and their viability for industrial applications.

Perovskite solar cells are an emerging photovoltaic technology that is gathering huge attention in the solar community for its power conversion efficiency. Recently, the coupling between the perovskite and the silicon technologies in the tandem configuration boosted even further this power conversion efficiency, reaching record values for terrestrial applications. However, several degradation mechanisms in the perovskite are negatively affecting the stability of this technology, questioning if successful commercialization is possible. At KPVLAB we are pioneering the outdoor testing of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells to investigate, understand, and improve their stability.

 

This study demonstrates 27%-efficient perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells in n–i–p configuration by developing novel electron and hole selective contacts, which combine high broadband transparency with efficient charge extraction. This study took place in the June issue of Energy & Environmental Science.

This study demonstrates double-side passivation of the nickel oxide/perovskite interface by incorporating N719 organometallic dye molecule, which enables 26.2% efficient textured monolithic p-i-n perovskite/silicon solar cells. This study was published in October's issue of Advanced Energy Materials.

This study, which takes place Advanced Materials Interfaces reports metallic lithium contact, applied to crystalline silicon solar cell and proved to be an excellent electron-selective, hole-blocking transport layer with an efficiency of 19%.

Ultrathin solar cells can be a path forward to low-cost photovoltaics due to their reduced material consumption and shorter required deposition times. With excellent surface passivation, such devices may feature higher open-circuit voltages (V_OC). However, their short-circuit current density (J_SC) may be reduced due to decreased light absorption. This mandates implementation of efficient light-trapping structures. To design efficient ultrathin solar cells that combine surface-passivation and light-trapping features, accurate 3-D modeling is necessary. To this end, we have developed a novel 3-D opto-electrical finite-element model to analyze the performance of ultrathin solar cells. We apply our model to the case of ultrathin (< 500 nm) chalcogenide solar cells (copper indium gallium (di) selenide, CIGSe), rear-passivated with nanostructured Al₂O₃ to circumvent optical and electrical losses, resulting in an absolute PCE enhancement of 3.9%, compared to cells without passivation structure. 

This review, which took place in Advanced Materials, provides a comprehensive overview of the tin-oxide electron-selective layered for champion perovskite solar cells.

This study, which took place in Nature Energy, show that a lower bandgap perovskite than needed at standard test conditions is actually beneficial to perovskite/silicon tandem cells in the field.

This work, published in Solar RRL,  presents a detailed study of the photophysics of multiple‐cation mixed halide lead perovskites and develops a concise picture of the impact of cesium/rubidium incorporation on the photophysics and device performance.

This study demonstrates the potential usage of the spray deposited perovskite nanocrystal inks for perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells.

This study, which came out in the recent issue of ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, successfully demonstrates the Lewis-acid (TPFB) doping of the widely used spiro-OMeTAD hole transport materials for perovskite solar cells to. This dopant replaces the conventional LiTFSI/tBP doping. By doing so, the device stability is increased and processing is simplified.

In collaboration with Carolin M. Sutter-Fella from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

This study, published in ACS Energy Letters, reports one of the highest PCE for single-junction devices fabricated by lost die coating as well as showing the first example of slot-die coated perovskite/silicon tandems on textured interfaces.

Growing perovskite on textured silicon - this report published in Science demonstrates the solution-processed perovskites on textured c-Si bottom cells in tandem configuration. Textured interfaces enable improved light coupling and efficient charge extraction and result in 25.7% certified monolithic tandem solar cells.