10.5% efficient polymer and amorphous silicon hybrid tandem photovoltaic cell

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 6391
• Main Authors: Kim, Jeehwan, Hong, Ziruo, Li, Gang, Song, Tze-bin, Chey, Jay, Lee, Yun Seog, You, Jingbi, Chen, Chun-Chao, Sadana, Devendra K., Yang, Yang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 04.03.2015; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/301/299/946; 639/624/1075/524; 639/624/399/1099; 639/925; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7391

Thin-film solar cells made with amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) or organic semiconductors are considered as promising renewable energy sources due to their low manufacturing cost and light weight. However, the efficiency of single-junction a-Si:H or organic solar cells is typically <10%, insufficient for achieving grid parity. Here we demonstrate an efficient double-junction photovoltaic cell by employing an a-Si:H film as a front sub-cell and a low band gap polymer:fullerene blend film as a back cell on planar glass substrates. Monolithic integration of 6.0% efficienct a-Si:H and 7.5% efficient polymer:fullerene blend solar cells results in a power conversion efficiency of 10.5%. Such high-efficiency thin-film tandem cells can be achieved by optical management and interface engineering of fully optimized high-performance front and back cells without sacrificing photovoltaic performance in both cells. Ultrathin film photovoltaic cells are a promising energy device, but suffer from low power conversion efficiency. Here, the authors construct a double-junction tandem cell using a hydrogenated amorphous silicon and a polymer as the front and back cell, respectively, which achieves 10.5% efficiency.