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Device Engineering of Lead-free Double Perovskite (Cs4CuSb2Cl12 & Cs2AgBiBr6)/Crystalline Silicon High-Performance Eco-friendly Tandem Solar Cells

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Abstract

Lead-free double perovskites are a newly developed category of non-toxic material with impressive photoelectric properties and excellent inherent environmental stability. This study explores the design and performance optimization of lead-free double perovskite/c-Si tandem devices (TDs). Two top cells (TCs) made of \({\text{C}\text{s}}_{4}\text{C}\text{u}\text{S}{\text{b}}_{2}{\text{C}\text{l}}_{12}\) (bandgap of 1.6 eV) and \({\text{C}\text{s}}_{2}\text{A}\text{g}\text{B}\text{i}{\text{B}\text{r}}_{6}\) (bandgap of 2.05 eV) absorber materials and the bottom cell (BC) of c-Si (bandgap of 1.12 eV), have been utilized for designing two TDs. To design an efficient TD’s structure, TC and BC were first individually simulated and calibrated against the findings derived from the reported experimental data. The absorber’s thickness of TC reaches the current matching, when the current it generates under AM 1.5G spectrum matches the BC’s current under a filtered spectrum (generated through TC). At current matching condition, the optimized values of thickness of \({\text{C}\text{s}}_{4}\text{C}\text{u}\text{S}{\text{b}}_{2}{\text{C}\text{l}}_{12}\) and \({\text{C}\text{s}}_{2}\text{A}\text{g}\text{B}\text{i}{\text{B}\text{r}}_{6}\) layers are 0.418 and 1.29 μm, respectively. The lead-free \({\text{C}\text{s}}_{4}\text{C}\text{u}\text{S}{\text{b}}_{2}{\text{C}\text{l}}_{12}/\text{c}-\text{S}\text{i}\) and \({\text{C}\text{s}}_{2}\text{A}\text{g}\text{B}\text{i}{\text{B}\text{r}}_{6}/\text{c}-\text{S}\text{i}\) TDs exhibit a PCE (power conversion efficiency) value of 34.67% (\({\text{V}}_{\text{O}\text{C}}\) = 1.82 V, \({\text{J}}_{\text{S}\text{C}}\) = 20.75 \({\text{m}\text{A}/\text{c}\text{m}}^{2}\), FF = 88.31%) and 36.88% (\({\text{V}}_{\text{O}\text{C}}\) = 2.16 V, \({\text{J}}_{\text{S}\text{C}}\) = 21.105 \({\text{m}\text{A}/\text{c}\text{m}}^{2}\), FF = 79.68%), respectively. Performance parameters of TDs obtained from this work are comparable to the results of reported experiments and simulations. Analysis of this study reveals that enhancing PCE of double-perovskite TC is essential to promise the TD’s benefits. The results reported demonstrate that lead-free and stable double perovskite materials can act as an essential absorber in sub-cells for highly efficient, commercially viable, non-toxic and eco-friendly tandem photovoltaic technologies.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, for financial backing through DST SERB Project File No. SRG/2021/002110. Dr. Amitesh Kumar acknowledges DST SERB regarding the Start-up Research Grant, fostering research at NIT Patna. Mr. Pritam Kumar expresses gratitude for providing and supporting facilities for research extended by the Department of Electrical Engineering, NIT Patna. Prof. Marc Burgelman from the University of Gent, Belgium, is appreciated for providing the crucial open-source SCAPS-1D software essential to this work.

Funding

Authors are grateful to the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, for financial backing through DST SERB Project File No. SRG/2021/002110.

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  1. Nextgen Adaptive Systems Group, Department of Electrical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Patna, Bihar, 800005, India

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PK: Conceptualization, Methodology, Visualization, Investigation, Data curation, Software, Writing-original draft. AK: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Supervision, Reviewing and Editing.

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Kumar, P., Kumar, A. Device Engineering of Lead-free Double Perovskite (Cs4CuSb2Cl12 & Cs2AgBiBr6)/Crystalline Silicon High-Performance Eco-friendly Tandem Solar Cells. Silicon (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-024-02920-1

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