Perovskite/silicon tandem cell hits 27.1% efficiency

Belgian nanotechnology research group Imec today said it has reached a conversion efficiency of 27.1% for a four-terminal perovskite/silicon tandem cell.

The result has been achieved as part of EnergyVille, a collaboration between several research partners in the field of sustainable energy and intelligent energy systems. Imec said the efficiency of the solar photovoltaic (PV) cell could go above 30% with further careful engineering of the Perovskite material.

To reach 27.1% the scientists used a 0.13-sq-cm spin-coated perovskite cell, developed as part of the Solliance partnership, stacked on top of a 4-sq-cm industrial interdigitated back-contact (IBC) silicon cell in a four-terminal configuration. When using a 4-sq-cm perovskite module on an IBC silicon cell of the same size, the efficiency was 25.3%.

“We have been working on this tandem technology for two years now, and the biggest difference with previous versions is in the engineering and processing of the Perovskite absorber, tuning its bandgap to optimize the efficiency for tandem configuration with silicon,” explained Manoj Jaysankar, doctoral researcher at imec/EnergyVille.

Tom Aernouts, imec/EnergyVille group leader for thin-film PV, believes using perovskite on top of industrial silicon cells might prove to be the most cost-effective approach to further lifting the efficiency of solar products. The researchers are ready to partner with companies in the PV value chain to achieve greater efficiencies.

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