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The ultimate efficiency of organolead halide perovskite solar cells limited by Auger processes

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Abstract

The key to improve the conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells lies in the identification and control of different limiting factors. Both intrinsic and extrinsic losses are shown here to be detrimental on conversion efficiency well below the thermodynamic limit. The effect of varying radiative and Auger recombination processes as inevitable intrinsic losses on device performance is shown in this work. The extrinsic losses are shown to impose severe bounds on efficiency limits. Such extrinsic losses include realistic material optical properties, finite diffusion length, ideality factor, parasitic resistance, and parasite absorption. Thus, this work presents the roadmap and the possible approaches in achieving performance beyond what is currently demonstrated in the highest efficiency perovskite solar cells. Additionally, the impact of light concentration, important in Auger limited devices is investigated. Finally, the impact of Auger recombination for perovskite with finite diffusion length in a two-terminal perovskite/silicon tandem device is investigated.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) encompasses the Australian-based activities of the Australia U.S. Institute for Advanced Photovoltaics (AUSIAPV) and is supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). This work is also supported by ARENA through project 2014/RND075. In addition, I. Almansouri gratefully acknowledges the financial support for this work provided by the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microsystems Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Ibraheem Almansouri

  2. Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP), School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2052, Australia

    Martin A. Green & Anita Ho-Baillie

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  1. Ibraheem Almansouri
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  2. Martin A. Green
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  3. Anita Ho-Baillie
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Correspondence to Ibraheem Almansouri.

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Almansouri, I., Green, M.A. & Ho-Baillie, A. The ultimate efficiency of organolead halide perovskite solar cells limited by Auger processes. Journal of Materials Research 31, 2197–2203 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2016.214

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2016.214

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