A monolithic nanostructured-perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell: feasibility of light management through geometry and materials selection

Abstract

The use of several layers of different materials, taking advantage of their complementary bandgap energies, improves the absorption in multi-junction solar cells. Unfortunately, the inherent efficiency increment of this strategy has a limitation: each interface introduces optical losses. In this paper, we study the effects of materials and geometry in the optical performance of a nanostructured hybrid perovskite - silicon tandem solar cell. Our proposed design increases the performance of both subcells by managing light towards the active layer, as well as by minimizing reflections losses in the interfaces. We sweep both refractive index and thickness of the transport layers and the dielectric spacer composing the metasurface, obtaining a range of these parameters for the proper operation of the device. Using these values, we obtain a reduction in the optical losses, in particular they are more than a 33% lower than those of a planar cell, mainly due to a reduction of the reflectivity in the device. This approach leads to an enhancement in the optical response, widens the possibilities for the manufacturers to use different materials, and allows wide geometrical tolerances.