Interplay between temperature and bandgap energies on the outdoor performance of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells

by Erkan Aydin, Thomas G. Allen, Michaele De Bastiani, Lujia Xu, Jorge Ávila, Michael Salvador, Emmanuel Van Kerschaver, Stefaan De Wolf
Article Year: 2020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-00687-4

Bibliography

Aydin, E., Allen, T. G., De Bastiani, M., Xu, L.,  Ávila, J., Salvador, M., Van Kerschaver, E., De Wolf, S., Nature Energy 2020.

Extra Information

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.

Abstract

Perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells promise power conversion efficiencies beyond the Shockley–Queisser limit of single-junction devices; however, their actual outdoor performance is yet to be investigated. Here we fabricate 25% efficient two-terminal monolithic perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells and test them outdoors in a hot and sunny climate. We find that the temperature dependence of both the silicon and perovskite bandgaps—which follow opposing trends—shifts the devices away from current matching for two-terminal tandems that are optimized at standard test conditions. Consequently, we argue that the optimal perovskite bandgap energy at standard test conditions is <1.68 eV for field performance at operational temperatures greater than 55 °C, which is lower compared with earlier findings. This implies that bromide-lean perovskites with narrower bandgaps at standard test conditions—and therefore better phase stability—hold great promise for the commercialization of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells.

Keywords

perovskite silicon tandems Field Performance Outdoor test High-efficiency devices Hybrid tandems Certified tandems