Elucidating the Effects of Interconnecting Layer Thickness and Bandgap Variations on the Performance of Monolithic Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cell by wxAMPS

Ili Salwani Mohamad; Camellia Doroody; Wabel Mohammed Alkharasani; Mohd Natashah Norizan; Puvaneswaran Chelvanathan; Seyed Ahmad Shahahmadi; Nowshad Amin

doi:10.3390/ma16114106

Elucidating the Effects of Interconnecting Layer Thickness and Bandgap Variations on the Performance of Monolithic Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cell by wxAMPS

Materials (Basel). 2023 May 31;16(11):4106. doi: 10.3390/ma16114106.

Authors

Ili Salwani Mohamad^{1

2}, Camellia Doroody^{1

3}, Wabel Mohammed Alkharasani¹, Mohd Natashah Norizan^{2

4}, Puvaneswaran Chelvanathan⁵, Seyed Ahmad Shahahmadi⁶, Nowshad Amin^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Malaysia.
² Faculty of Electronic Engineering & Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Arau 02600, Malaysia.
³ Institute of Sustainable Energy, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Malaysia.
⁴ Geopolymer and Green Technology, Centre of Excellent (CEGeoGTech), Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Arau 02600, Malaysia.
⁵ Solar Energy Research Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia.
⁶ Engineered Nanosystems Group, School of Science, Aalto University, Tietotie 1, 02150 Espoo, Finland.

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the pathways for integration of perovskite and silicon solar cells through variation of the properties of the interconnecting layer (ICL). The user-friendly computer simulation software wxAMPS was used to conduct the investigation. The simulation started with numerical inspection of the individual single junction sub-cell, and this was followed by performing an electrical and optical evaluation of monolithic 2T tandem PSC/Si, with variation of the thickness and bandgap of the interconnecting layer. The electrical performance of the monolithic crystalline silicon and CH₃NH₃PbI₃ perovskite tandem configuration was observed to be the best with the insertion of a 50 nm thick (E_g ≥ 2.25 eV) interconnecting layer, which directly contributed to the optimum optical absorption coverage. These design parameters improved the optical absorption and current matching, while also enhancing the electrical performance of the tandem solar cell, which benefited the photovoltaic aspects through lowering the parasitic loss.

Keywords: energy; interconnecting layer; monolithic; numerical simulation; perovskite; silicon; solar cell; tandem; wxAMPS.

Abstract

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