| Summary: |
The future of our planet relies on the swift decarbonization of the energy sector. It is crucial to foster the development of cost-effective technologies to harvest energy from renewable sources, meeting the United Nations sustainable development goals of 2030 agenda. Photovoltaic (PV) electricity in the range of tens of terawatts is required by 2030. Perovskite solar cell (PSC) technology is considered as one of, if not the most, attractive emerging PV technologies. However, there is a multitude of PSC concepts which most of them lead to a dead end due to the realization of a 20-year stable and competitive perovskite PV product. TanPT proposes uniting innovative materials with the most advanced encapsulation and tandem cell design architecture to produce long-term stable PSCs.
TanPT aims at accomplishing the PV golden triangle: of manufacturing cost, performance and long-term stability. We will combine unique know-how in advanced glass-glass encapsulation with best of class highly efficient PSCs creating a novel two-junction silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell.
TanPT project aims at the development of a novel 4 terminal (4T) Si-PSC tandem device, which simplifies assembly complexity and increases power conversion efficiency (PCE) performance. For the top PSC, perovskite absorbers made of triple cation and mixed-halide anion with bandgap of ca. 1.65 eV eV, will be used. To achieve the desired bandgap range, organic/inorganic cation mixtures of formamidinium (FA+), methylammonium (MA+), cesium (Cs+), guanidinium (Gua+), lead (Pb2+), tin (Sn2+) along with halide anions of iodide (I-), bromide (Br-) and chloride (Cl-) will be explored.
Transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) based on selective contacts with excellent optical transparency and high electrical conductivity will be developed by vapor deposition methods. TCE with more than 65 % transmittance for wavelength higher than 700 nm, will be deposited at temperatures lower than 85 °C. TCE fabrication will b  |
Summary
The future of our planet relies on the swift decarbonization of the energy sector. It is crucial to foster the development of cost-effective technologies to harvest energy from renewable sources, meeting the United Nations sustainable development goals of 2030 agenda. Photovoltaic (PV) electricity in the range of tens of terawatts is required by 2030. Perovskite solar cell (PSC) technology is considered as one of, if not the most, attractive emerging PV technologies. However, there is a multitude of PSC concepts which most of them lead to a dead end due to the realization of a 20-year stable and competitive perovskite PV product. TanPT proposes uniting innovative materials with the most advanced encapsulation and tandem cell design architecture to produce long-term stable PSCs.
TanPT aims at accomplishing the PV golden triangle: of manufacturing cost, performance and long-term stability. We will combine unique know-how in advanced glass-glass encapsulation with best of class highly efficient PSCs creating a novel two-junction silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell.
TanPT project aims at the development of a novel 4 terminal (4T) Si-PSC tandem device, which simplifies assembly complexity and increases power conversion efficiency (PCE) performance. For the top PSC, perovskite absorbers made of triple cation and mixed-halide anion with bandgap of ca. 1.65 eV eV, will be used. To achieve the desired bandgap range, organic/inorganic cation mixtures of formamidinium (FA+), methylammonium (MA+), cesium (Cs+), guanidinium (Gua+), lead (Pb2+), tin (Sn2+) along with halide anions of iodide (I-), bromide (Br-) and chloride (Cl-) will be explored.
Transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) based on selective contacts with excellent optical transparency and high electrical conductivity will be developed by vapor deposition methods. TCE with more than 65 % transmittance for wavelength higher than 700 nm, will be deposited at temperatures lower than 85 °C. TCE fabrication will be based on transparent conductive oxide (TCO) such as indium tin oxide (ITO) or indium zinc oxide (IZO). A buffer layer will be deposited to protect the hole transport layer (HTL) from degradation during TCO deposition and to facilitate hole transport in the devices.
TanPT aims at achieving stable PCE of more than 15 % for the top semi-transparent PSC and 4 % for the filtered bottom Silicon cell, therefore a total tandem PCE of 19 %, for lab devices of <0.5 cm2. The larger area devices will be fabricated in collaboration with CHOSE-Italy where a tandem PCE of 14 % for active area of > 5 cm2 is targeted.
Advanced laser-assisted glass frit encapsulation will be used to ensure long-term stability for the fabricated cells. The reported advanced dual laser beam glass-glass bonding developed by UPorto team in 2020 will be further developed for hermetic encapsulation of tandem devices at processing temperatures lower than 85 °C. Sealants with high thermal conductivity and moderate laser beam absorbance will be explored along with mechanical, optical and material studies on laser beam interaction with glass frit, to achieve bonding for devices up to 4 x 4 cm2 cavity dimension. The goal is to achieve hermeticity according to MIL-STD-883 standard protocols.
One of the most important concerns regarding the future of PSCs is their stability. To establish long term external environmental (i.e. humidity, oxygen and temperature exposure) and operational (i.e. illumination and electrical load influence) stability for >20 years, PSCs fabricated within the project will undergo a series of ISOS accelerated degradation tests. To accomplish external environmental stability, devices should also be thermally stable at temperature range of -40 °C to 85 °C and appropriately sealed to prevent degradation by humidity and air. Thus, within TanPT, PSCs will be fabricated with thermal stable materials and hermetically sealed with an advanced hermetic laser-assisted encapsulation technology. Moreover, interfacial studies through application of passivation layers would ensure long-term operational stability of the fabricated devices. The objective is to achieve > 500 h stability on the developed devices when tested with ISOS standard test protocols of thermal cycle, humidity and illumination tests, making PCS by TanPT world top performing tandem devices, balancing stability and PCE. The aging mechanisms of the devices will be assessed towards extending the stability of the solar cells. |