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Defect engineering in wide-bandgap perovskites for efficient perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells

Nature Photonics volume 16, pages 588–594 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Wide-bandgap (WBG) mixed-halide perovskites show promise of realizing efficient tandem solar cells but at present suffer from large open-circuit voltage loss and the mechanism is still unclear. Here we show that WBG perovskites with iodide–bromide compositions have an increased concentration of deep traps induced by iodide interstitials, which limits performance of WBG perovskite cells. We employ tribromide ions to suppress the iodide interstitial formation and thus reduce charge recombination in bladed WBG perovskite films of Cs0.1FA0.2MA0.7Pb(I0.85Br0.15)3. The 1-µm-thick opaque WBG perovskite solar cells have an efficiency of 21.9%, a small open-circuit voltage deficit of 0.40 V and a large fill factor of 83%. The efficiency of the best-performing monolithic perovskite–silicon tandem cell using this perovskite reaches 28.6%. The tribromide addition also suppresses light-induced phase segregation in WBG perovskites and thus enhance device stability. Encapsulated tandem cells maintain 93% of their initial efficiency after operation for 550 h.

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Fig. 1: Bromide content-dependent trap density distributions in Cs0.1FA0.2MA0.7Pb(I1–xBrx)3 solar cells.
Fig. 2: Thickness-dependent photovoltaic performance of WBG perovskite solar cells.
Fig. 3: Characterization of optoelectronic properties of WBG perovskite films and devices.
Fig. 4: Characterization of photovoltaic performance and operational stability of perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells.

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All the relevant data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Solar Energy Technologies office within the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, under award no. DE-EE0008749. This work was authored in part by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the US Department of Energy under contract no. DE-AC36-08GO28308. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the US Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Guang Yang, Zhenyi Ni, Zhenhua Yu, Bo Chen, Xun Xiao & Jinsong Huang

  2. School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Zhengshan J. Yu, Abdulwahab Alasfour & Zachary C. Holman

  3. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA

    Bryon W. Larson & Joseph M. Luther

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Jinsong Huang

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Contributions

J.H. conceived the ideal. G.Y. fabricated single-junction perovskite solar cells and perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells. Z.N. carried out DLCP measurements and performed DFT calculations. Z.J.Y. performed EQE measurement of tandem solar cells. A.A. fabricated the silicon bottom cells. J.M.L. and B.W.L. performed the TRMC measurement. Z.Y. optimized the ALD SnO2 buffer layer growth parameters. B.C. optimized the TCO deposition parameters. X.X. performed TPV measurements. G.Y. and J.H. wrote the paper, and all authors reviewed the paper.

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Correspondence to Jinsong Huang.

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Nature Photonics thanks Zhaoning Song and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Figs. 1–30 and Tables 1–5.

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Yang, G., Ni, Z., Yu, Z.J. et al. Defect engineering in wide-bandgap perovskites for efficient perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells. Nat. Photon. 16, 588–594 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-022-01033-8

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