Organic-inorganic perovskite hybrid tandem solar cells

在主流的硅片(c-Si)太阳能电池技术中，制造成本的大幅降低主要是由于规模经济的节省。因此，最近一份对未来光伏发电大规模使用的预测预测称，从现在到2030年，太阳能将占全球新增发电能力的近三分之一。然而，为了实现这一目标并确保光伏的广泛部署，光伏发电的成本仍需进一步降低。太阳能发电的很大一部分成本不是组件本身，而是框架、逆变器、安装和土地的固定成本，这被称为系统平衡(BOS)。BOS的降价速度没有模块成本那么快，因此，继续推动光伏成本下降的唯一可靠手段是提高模块的绝对效率，而不是明显增加它们的成本。本项目的主要目标是实现高效率、高稳定性的混合串联太阳能电池。具体目标是将宽禁带钙钛矿太阳能电池与晶体硅太阳能电池集成时，实现25%以上的功率转换效率。太阳能电池是由吸收光的光活性材料作为产生电流的主要部件组成的。但这一层被多个进一步的材料接触，以确保太阳能电池中高效的电荷提取和高电压产生。我们的理念是开展一个非常专注的项目，除了钙钛矿吸收层外，尽可能多地使用现有的经过验证的材料，并明智地将它们整合到钙钛矿-硅串联太阳能电池中。这将把风险降到最低，并最大限度地提高提供完全稳定的串联太阳能电池的可能性。在此过程中，以及整个研究过程中，我们将创造高效的双面钙钛矿太阳能电池(可以接收两边的光线)，并加强我们对钙钛矿和电荷收集层之间连接处的基本机制的理解。该项目非常及时，因为如果能够有效地集成到串联结构中，钙钛矿型太阳能电池已经达到了适当的效率，可以提高串联配置中的现有光伏。此外，在钙钛矿太阳能电池的整体稳定性和大面积加工方面已经取得了很大进展，使得该项目的产出很有可能直接转化为商业产品。

Substantial manufacturing-cost reductions in mainstream silicon-wafer (c-Si) based solar cell technologies have recently been achieved mainly due to savings through economy of scale. Hence a recent forecast for the future large-scale use of photovoltaics predicts that solar energy will contribute nearly a third of newly-installed electricity generation capacity worldwide between now and 2030. To reach this goal however and to assure a widespread deployment of PV, the cost for PV-generated energy still needs to be further reduced. A large fraction of the cost of solar power is not the modules themselves, but the fixed costs of frames, inverters, installation and land, which is termed the balance of systems (BOS). The BOS is not reducing in price as fast as the module costs, hence the only sure means to continue the downward drive in the cost of PV is to enhance the absolute efficiency of the modules, without overtly increasing their cost. The key aim of this project is to realise highly efficient hybrid tandem solar cells with high stability. The specific target is to achieve a power conversion efficiency of over 25% when integrating a wide band gap perovskite solar cell with a crystalline silicon solar cell. A solar cell is composed of a light absorbing photoactive material as the main component which generates electrical current. But this layer is contacted by multiple further materials to ensure efficient charge extraction and high voltage generation in the solar cell. Our philosophy is to undertake an extremely focussed project, employ as many existing proven materials as possible, apart from the perovskite absorber layer, and integrate them judiciously within the perovskite-Silicon tandem solar cells. This will minimise the risk, and maximise the possibility of delivering an entirely stable tandem solar cell. In the process of doing so, and throughout the investigations, we will create highly efficient bifacial perovskite solar cells (which can receive light illumination from both sides) and enhance our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms occurring at the junctions between the perovskite and the charge collection layers. The project is extremely timely, since the perovskite solar cells are already at the appropriate efficiency to enhance existing PV in a tandem configuration, provided effective integration into a tandem structure can be achieved. In addition, much progress on the overall stability of the perovskite solar cells and large area processing has already been achieved, making it highly likely that the output of this project will be transferred directly into a commercial product.