Simulation of Optimized High-Current Tandem Solar-Cells With Efficiency Beyond 41%

Simulation of Optimized High-Current Tandem Solar-Cells With Efficiency Beyond 41%

Two-terminalt and tandem solar-cells have a high efficiency of power conversion. One of their main limitations is the operating current density as the two-terminal tandem solar-cell is equivalent to electrically connected series subcells. Increasing the top absorber layer’s thickness will...

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Main Authors: Mohamed Mousa, Fathy Z. Amer, Roaa I. Mubarak, Ahmed Saeed
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2021-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
CIGS
geTe
high-current tandem-cell
optimized thickness
perovskite
sCAPS-1D
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9388655/
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spelling doaj-65d6ae76c8a049aaa148b3351e60c1c62021-04-05T17:38:30ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362021-01-019497244973710.1109/ACCESS.2021.30692819388655Simulation of Optimized High-Current Tandem Solar-Cells With Efficiency Beyond 41&#x0025;Mohamed Mousa0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7290-7726Fathy Z. Amer1Roaa I. Mubarak2Ahmed Saeed3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1326-6791Electrical Engineering Department, Future University in Egypt, Cairo, EgyptDepartment of Electronics and Communications Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University, Cairo, EgyptDepartment of Electronics and Communications Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University, Cairo, EgyptElectrical Engineering Department, Future University in Egypt, Cairo, EgyptTwo-terminalt and tandem solar-cells have a high efficiency of power conversion. One of their main limitations is the operating current density as the two-terminal tandem solar-cell is equivalent to electrically connected series subcells. Increasing the top absorber layer&#x2019;s thickness will lead to an increase in the top subcell current and a decrease in the bottom subcell&#x2019;s current. The subcell with the minimum current forces the tandem cell to operate at its value, limiting the overall performance. In this paper, a proposed solution for such a problem is introduced using a bottom subcell consisting of germanium-telluride (GeTe), which gives a high current and matches the top subcell at a thicker absorber layer. A proposal of three different tandem cells with perovskite (MAPbI<sub>3</sub>)/CIGS, perovskite (MAPbI<sub>3</sub>)/GeTe, and perovskite (MAPbI<sub>3-x</sub>Cl<sub>x</sub>)/GeTe have been presented. The proposed perovskite (MAPbI<sub>3</sub>)/CIGS has an efficiency of 30.52&#x0025;, whereas the replacement of the CIGS bottom subcell by GeTe led to a significant enhancement of the efficiency to reach 35.9&#x0025;. High efficiency of 41.7&#x0025; is obtained by replacing the perovskite (MAPbI<sub>3</sub>) top subcell with perovskite (MAPbI<sub>3-x</sub>Cl<sub>x</sub>). A modified numerical algorithm is proposed to obtain the optimum thickness of the top subcell to achieve higher power-conversion efficiency. The performance evaluation and simulation of the designed tandem cells were carried out using SCAPS-1D. The temperature effects on the proposed cells have been encountered in simulation. The results show that the proposed tandem solar-cells have comparable performance and higher efficiencies relative to the published works.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9388655/CIGSgeTehigh-current tandem-celloptimized thicknessperovskitesCAPS-1D
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Mohamed Mousa
Fathy Z. Amer
Roaa I. Mubarak
Ahmed Saeed
spellingShingle Mohamed Mousa
Fathy Z. Amer
Roaa I. Mubarak
Ahmed Saeed
Simulation of Optimized High-Current Tandem Solar-Cells With Efficiency Beyond 41&#x0025;
IEEE Access
CIGS
geTe
high-current tandem-cell
optimized thickness
perovskite
sCAPS-1D
author_facet Mohamed Mousa
Fathy Z. Amer
Roaa I. Mubarak
Ahmed Saeed
author_sort Mohamed Mousa
title Simulation of Optimized High-Current Tandem Solar-Cells With Efficiency Beyond 41&#x0025;
title_short Simulation of Optimized High-Current Tandem Solar-Cells With Efficiency Beyond 41&#x0025;
title_full Simulation of Optimized High-Current Tandem Solar-Cells With Efficiency Beyond 41&#x0025;
title_fullStr Simulation of Optimized High-Current Tandem Solar-Cells With Efficiency Beyond 41&#x0025;
title_full_unstemmed Simulation of Optimized High-Current Tandem Solar-Cells With Efficiency Beyond 41&#x0025;
title_sort simulation of optimized high-current tandem solar-cells with efficiency beyond 41&#x0025;
publisher IEEE
series IEEE Access
issn 2169-3536
publishDate 2021-01-01
description Two-terminalt and tandem solar-cells have a high efficiency of power conversion. One of their main limitations is the operating current density as the two-terminal tandem solar-cell is equivalent to electrically connected series subcells. Increasing the top absorber layer&#x2019;s thickness will lead to an increase in the top subcell current and a decrease in the bottom subcell&#x2019;s current. The subcell with the minimum current forces the tandem cell to operate at its value, limiting the overall performance. In this paper, a proposed solution for such a problem is introduced using a bottom subcell consisting of germanium-telluride (GeTe), which gives a high current and matches the top subcell at a thicker absorber layer. A proposal of three different tandem cells with perovskite (MAPbI<sub>3</sub>)/CIGS, perovskite (MAPbI<sub>3</sub>)/GeTe, and perovskite (MAPbI<sub>3-x</sub>Cl<sub>x</sub>)/GeTe have been presented. The proposed perovskite (MAPbI<sub>3</sub>)/CIGS has an efficiency of 30.52&#x0025;, whereas the replacement of the CIGS bottom subcell by GeTe led to a significant enhancement of the efficiency to reach 35.9&#x0025;. High efficiency of 41.7&#x0025; is obtained by replacing the perovskite (MAPbI<sub>3</sub>) top subcell with perovskite (MAPbI<sub>3-x</sub>Cl<sub>x</sub>). A modified numerical algorithm is proposed to obtain the optimum thickness of the top subcell to achieve higher power-conversion efficiency. The performance evaluation and simulation of the designed tandem cells were carried out using SCAPS-1D. The temperature effects on the proposed cells have been encountered in simulation. The results show that the proposed tandem solar-cells have comparable performance and higher efficiencies relative to the published works.
topic CIGS
geTe
high-current tandem-cell
optimized thickness
perovskite
sCAPS-1D
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9388655/
work_keys_str_mv AT mohamedmousa simulationofoptimizedhighcurrenttandemsolarcellswithefficiencybeyond41x0025
AT fathyzamer simulationofoptimizedhighcurrenttandemsolarcellswithefficiencybeyond41x0025
AT roaaimubarak simulationofoptimizedhighcurrenttandemsolarcellswithefficiencybeyond41x0025
AT ahmedsaeed simulationofoptimizedhighcurrenttandemsolarcellswithefficiencybeyond41x0025
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