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Synergy : Systems for Ultra-high

Performance Photovoltaic Energy


Harvesting
26.01.2017

Prof. Christophe Ballif


Prof. Christophe Ballif Prof. Anna Fontcuberta Prof. Michael Graetzel
i Morral

Industrial partners:

Dr. Julien Bailat Prof. Ayodhya N. Tiwari

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Outline

Synergy Objective
Realizing photovoltaic energy harvesting systems based on
tandem solar cells with efficiency beyond that achievable
with state-of-the-art industrial single-junction cells

What impact could these photovoltaic systems have on society?


What is their economical potential on which markets?
Which technological approach enables high efficiency at low costs?
Which scientific challenges were solved to reach the objective?

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Impact on society

Source: picture alliance / dpa Source: npu.at

Transition to a sustainable society


required due to finite fossil fuel Source: REN21, Renewables
2015 global status report
reserves
and to limit global warming
Photovoltaics only ~1% of global
electricity production
PV has to become fully competitive
with fossil fuels to enable a rapid
transition!

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Economical impact: Photovoltaic power plants

Benchmark:
0.55-0.8 /W at 17-21% module efficiency
Electricity at 5 cts/kWh in sunny countries
Requirements: PV market continues to grow: 100 GWp new
Highly cost sensitive: Maximal efficiency at installations expected in 2020
minimal manufacturing costs
Reliability (>30 years lifetime)

High efficiency at low fabrication costs


enables lower PV electricity prices
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Economical impact: Ubiquitous energy scavenging

Benchmark: application specific Internet of things and wearables markets:


Requirements: $655.8 billion in 2014
Best efficiency at low-medium illumination $1.7 trillion in 2020
Acceptable manufacturing costs Compound annual growth rate of 16.9%
Sufficient reliability

High efficiency enables improved


device functionality
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Special Applications:
Solar Stratosat the edge of space

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ow to reach ultra-high efficiency?

Tandem solar cells can reach efficiencies > 30%

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Tandem Solar Cells

Source: pveducation.org
Combination of high
bandgap top cell with low
bandgap bottom cell
Realistic potential for
efficiencies > 30%
Careful choice of
absorber materials is Source: Empa

important Monolithic tandem 4-terminal tandem


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Tandem concept reached >30%
...but with high-cost cells

Mechanically stacked 4-terminal GaInP /


Si heterojunction tandem cell
Cell size: 1 cm2
30.6% certified efficiency
Record for Si-based tandem!
Expensive top cell
Need for alternative low-cost top cells

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Synergy approach
Market-proven high-efficiency technologies

CuInGaSe2 (CIGS) Silicon heterojunction


combined with emerging low-cost technologies

GaAs nanowires Metal halide perovskites


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Technological challenges

Superstrate /
encapsulation
Selected technological challenges that
Transparent contact were addressed in this project:
Perovskite or GaAs NW Development of transparent electrodes
top cell
Transparent contact Up-scaling and reliability of emerging PV
technologies
Optical coupling/ Process compatibility of top and bottom
interconnection cells
Optical coupling between sub-cells
Transparent contact
Optimization of rear-reflector
Si or CIGS bottom cell
Rear-reflector
Substrate /
encapsulation

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Scientific Impact: Result Highlights

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GaAs nanowire cell

GaAs NWs ITO


PDMS
2 m p-Si

Proof-of-concept GaAs nanowire device


GaAs nanowires instead of solid film, strongly
reducing material consumption & costs
Nanowires are radially doped for junction formation
and embedded in polymer
Transparent conductive metal oxide front contact

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Perovskite cell: Performance and reliability

Novel perovskite absorber material leads to


record efficiency of 21.1%
strongly enhanced stability compared to
standard perovskite materials
M. Saliba et al., Energy
Env. Sci. 2016

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Perovskite cell: Up-scaling to mini-module

12 cm2 perovskite mini-module


Uniform layers by optimized
deposition process
Laser scribing to define and
interconnect segments
< 10% dead area
Efficiency of 11.5%

Soo-Jin Moon et al. IEEE JPV, 2015

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Perovskite cell: Near-infrared transparent cells

J. Werner et al., ACS Energy Lett. 1, 474 (2016)


F. Fu et al., Nature Energy 2, 16190 (2016)

Perovskite cells with high infrared-transparency suitable for tandem integration


Up to 16.4% efficiency, current record for semi-transparent perovskite cells!
Efficient light transmission to silicon or SIGS bottom cell
Low-temperature (<150C) process compatible with sensitive bottom cells

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Tandem cell: 4-terminal perovskite/CIGS

F. Fu et al., Nature Energy 2, 16190 (2016)

Mechanically-stacked perovskite/CIGS 4-terminal tandem cell


Using a 16% perovskite top cell and 19% CIGS bottom cell
Tandem efficiency 22.1%
Current perovskite/CIGS tandem efficiency record!

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Tandem cell: 4-terminal perovskite/silicon HJ

J. Werner et al., ACS Energy Lett. 1, 474 (2016)

Mechanically-stacked perovskite/silicon heterojunction 4-terminal tandem cell


Using a 16% perovskite top cell and 22% Si HJ bottom cell
Tandem measurement efficiency 25.6%
Current perovskite/silicon tandem efficiency record!

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Tandem cell: Monolithic perovskite/silicon HJ

J.Werner et al.
JPCL 7, 161-166
(2016)

Monolithic perovskite/silicon heterojunction tandem cell


More challenging than 4-terminal tandems as the perovskite top cell
is directly deposited onto the Si bottom cell
Tandem efficiency: 21.2%, well above both sub-cell efficiencies of 16-
17%

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Energy harvesting demonstrator

Live demonstration of tandem cells at Annual Nano-Tera


meeting 2016: Tandem cells controlled by EM Marin low-power
energy harvesting board

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Impact Summary
Scientific / Technological Impact:
Demonstration that tandem solar cells can boost the performance of
market-proven high-efficiency silicon and CIGS cells using emerging
low-cost PV technologies

Economic Impact:
Products based on these tandem cells could support Swiss companies
to be successful in the fast growing but competitive photovoltaics and
energy scavenging markets

Impact on Society:
Potential to strongly reduce photovoltaic electricity costs, accelerating
the transition to a sustainable future

Education:
Young engineers and PhD students were trained during this project

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Thank you for your attention!

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