Prospects for Perovskite/Silicon tandem solar cells to outperform c-Silicon solar cells at elevated temperatures

TL;DR

This paper uses simulations and modeling to identify the conditions under which Perovskite/Silicon tandem solar cells can outperform traditional silicon cells at high temperatures, focusing on stability and efficiency limits.

Contribution

It introduces a scaling law for efficiency and temperature coefficient evolution, and compares ion migration effects in 2T and 4T tandem cell configurations.

Findings

4T cells are more resistant to ion migration effects.

Identified limits of ion migration and degradation for competitiveness.

Developed a scaling law for efficiency and temperature coefficient evolution.

Abstract

Successful commercialization of Perovskite/Si tandem solar cells (P/Si TSCs) need a-priori estimation of technological benchmarks to outperform c-Si based technologies under field conditions. To this end, through detailed numerical simulations and analytical modeling, here we identify the limits of ion migration and lifetime degradation till which P/Si TSCs remain competitive. Our results unravel a unique scaling law for the evolution of the efficiency and the temperature coefficient of P/Si TSCs which allows us to anticipate the limiting annual degradation rates. Interestingly, we find that 4T cells are potentially more immune to the ill effects of ion migration as compared to 2T cells. These insights are of broad relevance for material/interface engineering approaches and physics based accelerated tests which are focused towards long term stability and module reliability.