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Monolithic perovskite/organic tandem solar cells with 23.6% efficiency enabled by reduced voltage losses and optimized interconnecting layer

Nature Energy volume 7, pages 229–237 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Due to the large chemical composition and bandgap tunability of both perovskite and organic semiconductors, perovskite/organic tandem solar cells are attractive for next-generation thin-film photovoltaics. However, their efficiency is limited by the open-circuit voltage loss of wide-bandgap perovskite subcells and the non-ideal interconnecting layers. Here we report that the passivation of nickel oxide hole-transporting layers with benzylphosphonic acid leads to the suppression of interfacial recombination, boosting the voltage up to 1.26 V in a 1.79-eV-bandgap perovskite subcell. Then, we develop an optimized interconnecting layer structure based on a 4-nm-thick sputtered indium zinc oxide layer inserted between organic bathocuproine and molybdenum oxide with enhanced electrical properties and transmittance in the near-infrared region. Through these improvements, we achieve a maximum efficiency of 23.60% (22.95% certified) in the perovskite/organic tandem solar cell. In addition, the tandem device retained 90% initial efficiency after 500 h maximum power point tracking under continuous one sun illumination.

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Fig. 1: Suppression of Voc loss of WBG perovskite solar cells using BPA passivation strategy.
Fig. 2: Design of ICLs in perovskite/organic TSCs.
Fig. 3: Characteristics and working mechanism of the perovskite/organic TSCs with thin IZO-based ICLs.
Fig. 4: Optimal performance of the perovskite/organic TSCs.

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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the published article and its Supplementary Information and Supplementary Data.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos 61775091 and U2001216); the Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality (no. JCYJ20180504165851864); the Shenzhen Key Laboratory Project (no. ZDSYS201602261933302); and the Natural Science Foundation of Shenzhen Innovation Committee (nos JCYJ20150529152146471 and JCYJ20170818141216288). A.B.D. acknowledges support from the Research Grants Council Collaborative Research Fund grants C5037-18G and C7018-20G, Seed Funding for Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Scheme of the University of Hong Kong and Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission Projects no. JCYJ20170818141216288. Y. Hou acknowledges the support from the National University of Singapore Presidential Young Professorship (R-279-000-617-133 and R-279-001-617-133). Seven of the authors of this paper are affiliated with the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), a research institute at the National University of Singapore. SERIS is supported by the National University of Singapore, the National Research Foundation Singapore, the Energy Market Authority of Singapore and the Singapore Economic Development Board. We thank the Materials Characterization and Preparation Center and the Pico Center of SUSTech for some characterizations in this work.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Wei Chen, Yudong Zhu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR

    Wei Chen, Xinshun Qin, Jingyang Lin, Yanling He & Aleksandra B. Djurišić

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, PR China

    Wei Chen, Yudong Zhu, Jingwei Xiu, Guocong Chen, Xugang Guo & Zhubing He

  3. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Wei Chen, Haoming Liang, Shunchang Liu & Yi Hou

  4. Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Wei Chen, Haoming Liang, Shunchang Liu, Hansong Xue, Erik Birgersson, Jian Wei Ho & Yi Hou

  5. Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR

    Yudong Zhu, Ruijie Ma, Tao Liu & He Yan

  6. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Erik Birgersson

  7. Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, PR China

    Jingyang Lin, Yanling He & Alan Man-Ching Ng

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  1. Wei Chen
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Contributions

W.C., A.B.D. and Y. Hou conceived the idea and designed the experiments. Y. Hou, A.B.D. and Z.H. supervised the project. Y. Hou, A.B.D., W.C., H.L., H.Y., A.M.-C.N., X.G. and Z.H. composed and revised the paper. W.C. fabricated and characterized the perovskite and TSCs. Y.Z., J.L. and S.L. helped perform the related device electrical characteristics and measurements. H.X. and E.B. performed the simulation and analysed the data. R.M. and T.L. helped to optimize the organic solar cells. Y.Z., J.X. and G.C. finished the focused ion beam, STEM and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy characteristics and the IZO sputtering. J.L. helped perform the optical measurement, and Y. He analysed the data. G.C. and J.X. performed the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UPS, photoluminescence and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements and data analysis. Y.Z., J.W.H. and X.Q. helped perform other related characterizations and measurements. All authors discussed and analysed the results.

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Correspondence to Zhubing He, Aleksandra B. Djurišić or Yi Hou.

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Supplementary Figs. 1–28, Tables 1–7, Note 1 and refs. 1–29.

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Additional supplementary data for Supplementary Figs. 10a–d, 27 and 28.

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Chen, W., Zhu, Y., Xiu, J. et al. Monolithic perovskite/organic tandem solar cells with 23.6% efficiency enabled by reduced voltage losses and optimized interconnecting layer. Nat Energy 7, 229–237 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-021-00966-8

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