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Design and modeling of a planar 2D nanostructured intermediate layer for light management in a very-thin SHJ bottom cell based monolithic perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell

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Abstract

We present an optical simulation for a very-thin (60 μm) SHJ (silicon heterojunction cell) bottom cell based planar monolithic perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell incorporated with an intermediate reflector layer (IRL) in between the top and the bottom sub-cell to study the light management. The simulation was performed in a commercial software called Ansys Lumerical FDTD Solver. In this study, the tandem solar cell was simulated by incorporating a TFOR (topologically flat but optically rough) IRL of different periods, a DBR (distributed Bragg reflector) IRL, and a combination of (TFOR + DBR) IRL in the intermediate region to check the optical absorptance enhancement in the top and the bottom sub-cells, and, also the reflectance spectrum of the tandem solar cell. The tandem solar cell incorporated with a TFOR IRL was simulated for a range of top cell thicknesses, keeping the bottom cell thickness 60 μm (fixed); aiming to use as a flexible tandem solar cell. This exhibits a current density (Jsc) enhancement in the bottom sub-cell due to the incorporation of TFOR IRL, with a maximum for 500 nm period TFOR. However, the current density of the top sub-cell remains unchanged. The closest Jsc of both the top and the bottom sub-cells reaching the current-match condition is found in the tandem solar cell incorporated with a 500 nm period TFOR IRL. For the PIN based perovskite (500 nm)/silicon (60 μm) tandem solar cells, the maximum current density enhancement in the bottom sub-cell resulting from the incorporation of a 500 nm period TFOR IRL is 0.43 mA/cm2. However, a DBR IRL or (TFOR + DBR) IRL incorporation in the tandem solar cell could not improve the current density of the bottom sub-cells. Instead, it increases the current density in the top sub-cells. Moreover, a current density loss was also analyzed in the TFOR IRL which shows that the current density loss decreases by increasing the TFOR period and a maximum loss is at 200 nm period. Further, an electric field analysis was also done in the top and the bottom sub-cells at peak absorption wavelengths, which shows that the electric field is more concentrated in the bottom sub-cell due to TFOR IRL, confirming the forward scattering of light in the tandem solar cell incorporated with TFOR IRL.

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Data availability statement

All the data generated or analysed during this study are included in the article (also the supplementary information files).

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Funding

The author would like to thank Department of Physics, IIT Madras, and DSEHC, a center funded by Department of science and technology (DST), Government of India, through grant No. DST/TMD/SERI/HUB/1(C), for funding to this work.

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  1. C. Vijayan

    Present address: Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth Institute of Science and Technology, Ernakulam, 682313, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, India

    Md. Seraj Uddin, C. Vijayan & J. K. Rath

  2. DST Solar Energy Harnessing Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, India

    Md. Seraj Uddin & J. K. Rath

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Contributions

Conceptualization, MSU; methodology, MSU; software, MSU; validation, MSU, CV and JKR; formal analysis, MSU, CV and JKR; data curation, MSU; writing—original draft preparation, MSU; writing—review and editing, MSU, CV, JKR; supervision, CV and JKR. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to J. K. Rath.

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Uddin, M.S., Vijayan, C. & Rath, J. Design and modeling of a planar 2D nanostructured intermediate layer for light management in a very-thin SHJ bottom cell based monolithic perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 1753 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11163-6

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