Ultrathin (∼30 µm) flexible monolithic perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell

Xinlong Wang; Jingming Zheng; Zhiqin Ying; Xin Li; Meili Zhang; Xuchao Guo; Shiqian Su; Jingsong Sun; Xi Yang; Jichun Ye

doi:10.1016/j.scib.2024.04.022

Ultrathin (∼30 µm) flexible monolithic perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell

Sci Bull (Beijing). 2024 Apr 13:S2095-9273(24)00256-1. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2024.04.022. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xinlong Wang¹, Jingming Zheng¹, Zhiqin Ying², Xin Li¹, Meili Zhang³, Xuchao Guo¹, Shiqian Su³, Jingsong Sun³, Xi Yang⁴, Jichun Ye⁵

Affiliations

¹ Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Research Center of Energy Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Research Center of Energy Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China. Electronic address: yingzhiqin@nimte.ac.cn.
³ Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Research Center of Energy Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China.
⁴ Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Research Center of Energy Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China. Electronic address: yangx@nimte.ac.cn.
⁵ Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Research Center of Energy Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China. Electronic address: jichun.ye@nimte.ac.cn.

PMID: 38658235
DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2024.04.022

Abstract

The efficiency of rigid perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells has reached 33.9%. However, there has been no report on flexible perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells due to the challenge of overcoming the poor light absorption of ultrathin silicon bottom cells while maintaining their mechanical flexibility. Herein, we report the first demonstration of the perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell based on flexible ultrathin silicon. We show that reducing the wafer thicknesses and feature sizes of the light-trapping textures can significantly improve the flexibility of silicon without sacrificing light utilization. In addition, the capping of the perovskite top cells can further improve the device's mechanical durability by shifting the neutral plane toward the silicon surface that is prone to fracture. Finally, the resulting ultrathin (∼30 µm) flexible perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell achieves a certified stabilized efficiency of 22.8% with an extremely high power-to-weight ratio of 3.12 W g^-1. Moreover, the flexible tandems exhibit remarkable bending durability, maintaining 98.2% of their initial performance after 3000 bending cycles at a radius of only 1 cm.

Keywords: Bending durability; Flexible photovoltaics; Light-trapping nanostructures; Perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells; Ultrathin and lightweight photovoltaics.