Presentation Details
| Validated optical and electrical modeling for performance evaluation and loss analysis of 2-terminal perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells on industrial scales Dong Zhang, Rohit Prasanna, Tomas Leijtens. Swift Solar, San Carlos, CA, USA |
Abstract
The dominant photovoltaic technology, single-junction silicon (Si), is nearing its practical efficiency limit after decades of development. As continued efficiency improvement is crucial for reducing the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of photovoltaics, there is significant global interest in next-generation solar cell technologies that can surpass the performance of single-junction Si. Tandem solar cells offer a path to efficiencies beyond the single-junction limit by mitigating fundamental spectral mismatch losses. Among various configurations, 2-terminal perovskite–Si tandems are widely regarded as one of the most commercially promising options. While lab-scale efficiencies of up to 35% have been demonstrated, achieving similarly high efficiencies at an industrial scale remains challenging. Given that perovskite solar cells are primarily developed as small-area, single-junction cells on glass substrates, industrial-scale tandem development can be accelerated by accurately linking single-junction device results to large-area tandem performance through validated models. In this contribution, we demonstrate that the performance of large-area 2-terminal perovskite–Si tandem cells can be accurately predicted from the characteristics of single-junction perovskite and Si subcells using validated optical and electrical modeling. The optical model integrates transfer-matrix and ray-tracing approaches, utilizing experimentally validated optical constants for all functional layers. The electrical model employs equivalent-circuit representations for both single-junction and tandem devices and incorporates a resistance-loss model to account for large-area electrode transport. These comprehensive models not only enable performance evaluation of industrial-scale tandem cells but also allow for quantitative loss analysis to reveal the contribution of key optical and electrical loss mechanisms, thus providing clear guidance for further device optimization.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.