Tandem solar cells made from amorphous silicon and polymer bulk heterojunction sub-cells

Abstract

A tandem solar cell based on a combination of an amorphous silicon (a-Si) and polymer solar cell (PSC) is demonstrated. As these tandem devices can be readily fabricated by low-cost methods, they require only a minor increase in the total manufacturing cost. Therefore, a combination of a-Si and PSC provides a compelling solution to reduce the cost of electricity produced by photovoltaics.

Keywords: amorphous silicon solar cells; parallel solar cells; polymer solar cells; series solar cells; tandem solar cells.