In Situ Grown Nanocrystalline Si Recombination Junction Layers for Efficient Perovskite–Si Monolithic Tandem Solar Cells: Toward a Simpler Multijunction Architecture

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 14; no. 29; pp. 33505 - 33514
• Main Authors: McDonald, Calum, Sai, Hitoshi, Svrcek, Vladimir, Kogo, Atsushi, Miyadera, Tetsuhiko, Murakami, Takurou N., Chikamatsu, Masayuki, Yoshida, Yuji, Matsui, Takuya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 18.07.2022
• Subjects: Functional Inorganic Materials and Devices; perovskite; silicon; tandem; nanocrystalline silicon; photovoltaics; solar cell; multijunction, recombination junction
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c05662

The perovskite–Si tandem is an attractive avenue to attain greater power conversion efficiency (PCE) than their respective single-junction solar cells. However, such devices generally employ complex stacks with numerous deposition steps, which are rather unattractive from an industrial perspective. Here, we develop a simplified tandem architecture consisting of a perovskite n–i–p stack on a silicon heterojunction structure without applying the typically used indium–tin–oxide (ITO) recombination junction (RJ) layer between the top and bottom cells. It is demonstrated that an n-type hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) grown in situ on an amorphous silicon hole contact layer of the bottom cell acts as an efficient RJ layer, leading to a high open-circuit voltage (V OC) of >1.8 V and a PCE of 21.4% without optimizing the optical design. Compared to the tandem cell with an ITO RJ layer, the nc-Si:H RJ layer not only improves light management but also achieves a higher V OC due to superior contact properties with an overlying SnO2 electron transport layer of the perovskite top cell. Omitting the costly material and its deposition step offers the opportunity toward realizing industrially feasible high-efficiency tandem solar cells.