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

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.

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Fig. 1: Design and performance of the perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells.
Fig. 2: Outdoor performance of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells.
Fig. 3: Temperature-dependent performance of the perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells.
Fig. 4: The performance of the tandem solar cells under current mismatch conditions.
Fig. 5: The calculated temperature-dependent performance of the ideal perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available within the paper, its Supplementary Information and its Source Data files. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

The research reported in this publication was supported by funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) under award nos. OSR-CARF URF/1/3079-33-01 and IED OSR-2019-4208. The authors thank TUV Rheinland Group for providing solar spectra from their outdoor test field on the KAUST campus. J.Á. thanks the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport for his pre-doctoral grant (FPU14/04466).

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

E.A and T.G.A. conceived the idea and designed the experiments. E.A. developed the perovskite top cells, top electrodes and contact layouts and fabricated the tandem devices, E.A. and T.G.A. performed laboratory-based device characterizations. J.Á. contributed the fabrication of the perovskite absorber. T.G.A. developed nanocrystalline recombination junction and fabricated c-Si bottom cells. M.D.B. performed temperature-dependent absorptance measurements and prepared the silicon wafers. M.D.B and E.V.K. did the encapsulation of the devices. M.S. performed the field measurements. E.V.K. prepared the field data. L.X. performed the temperature prediction calculations. T.G.A. performed the temperature-dependent radiative efficiency modelling and yield calculations. E.A., T.G.A. and S.D.W. composed the manuscript. All authors discussed the results, contributed to the writing and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Erkan Aydin or Stefaan De Wolf.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–22, Notes 1–5, Table 1 and refs. 1–16.

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Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Photovoltaic parameters of a tandem solar cell at test field and Predicted ambient and cell temperature values for 2016.

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Aydin, E., Allen, T.G., De Bastiani, M. et al. Interplay between temperature and bandgap energies on the outdoor performance of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells. Nat Energy 5, 851–859 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-00687-4

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