Solar-assisted water electrolysis is a promising technology for storing the energy of incident solar irradiation into hydrogen as a fuel. Here, an integrated continuous flow electrochemical reactor coupled to a monolithic perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell is demonstrated that provides light-driven electrochemical solar-to-hydrogen conversion with an energy conversion efficiency exceeding 21% at 1-Sun equivalent light intensity and stable operation during three simulated day-night cycles.@en

Nonequal current generation in the cells of a photovoltaic module, e.g., due to partial shading, leads to operation in reverse bias. This quickly causes a significant efficiency loss in perovskite solar cells. We report a more quantitative investigation of the reverse bias degradation. Various small reverse biases (negative voltages) were applied for different durations. After normalizing the applied voltages with the breakdown voltages, we found similar dependences of the reverse bias current and the degradation rate. We draw conclusions regarding possible degradation mechanisms and propose a way to increase the comparability of degradation rates for comparing different perovskite solar cells.@en

Two terminal (2T) perovskite/copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) tandem solar cells combine high conversion efficiency with lightweight flexible substrates which can decrease manufacturing and installation costs. In order to improve the power conversion efficiency of these tandem solar cells, the use of advanced simulation tools is crucial to estimate the loss mechanisms. In this regard, most of the available simulation works on tandem solar cells are oriented to minimize optical losses and assuming simplifications for the electrical simulations in particular in the top and bottom cell interconnection at the so-called tunnel recombination junction (TRJ) neglecting the inner physics of the complete tandem device. Therefore, the effect of charge exchange mechanism between top and bottom soler cells on the external parameters of a tandem devices is not fully understood yet. In this work, we present an experimentally validated opto-electrical model based on the fundamental semiconductor equations for the study of loss mechanisms of a reference perovskite/CIGS solar cell. Different from other numerical works, because our simulation platform includes the fundamental working mechanisms of the layers comprising the TRJ, we can properly calculate the losses related to it. We firstly present the calibration and validation of our opto-electrical model with respect to three fabricated reference solar cells: top cell only, bottom cell only and tandem device. Then, we use the calibrated model to evaluate main loss mechanisms affecting the baseline tandem device. Finally, we use the model to propose a roadmap for the optimization of monolithic perovskite/CIGS tandem solar cells.@en

Two terminal (2T) perovskite/copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) tandem solar cells combine high conversion efficiency with lightweight flexible substrates which can decrease manufacturing and installation costs. In order to improve the power conversion efficiency of these tandem solar cells, the use of advanced simulation tools is crucial to estimate the loss mechanisms. In this regard, most of the available simulation works on tandem solar cells are oriented to minimize optical losses and assuming simplifications for the electrical simulations in particular in the top and bottom cell interconnection at the so-called tunnel recombination junction (TRJ) neglecting the inner physics of the complete tandem device. Therefore, the effect of charge exchange mechanism between top and bottom soler cells on the external parameters of a tandem devices is not fully understood yet. In this work, we present an experimentally validated opto-electrical model based on the fundamental semiconductor equations for the study of loss mechanisms of a reference perovskite/CIGS solar cell. Different from other numerical works, because our simulation platform includes the fundamental working mechanisms of the layers comprising the TRJ, we can properly calculate the losses related to it. We firstly present the calibration and validation of our opto-electrical model with respect to three fabricated reference solar cells: top cell only, bottom cell only and tandem device. Then, we use the calibrated model to evaluate main loss mechanisms affecting the baseline tandem device. Finally, we use the model to propose a roadmap for the optimization of monolithic perovskite/CIGS tandem solar cells.@en

The degradation of hybrid perovskite films when exposed to ambient air is a major challenge for the development of perovskite-based photovoltaics at large scale. At present, little is known about the environmental degradation of perovskite films associated with the development of structural defects or open volumes (such as atomic vacancies, voids, crystallographic defects and grain boundary defects) in the lattice, and about the depth dependence of the structural degradation. Therefore, in this work, we use Doppler broadening-positron annihilation spectroscopy (DB-PAS) depth-profiling to gain insight into the structural degradation of CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3-x Cl x perovskite when exposed to ambient air. In parallel, we investigate the effect of ultrathin (<1 nm) atomic layer deposited (ALD) Al 2 O 3 processed directly on top of the perovskite as a means to suppress the degradation process. Specifically, we infer that the perovskite degradation involves changes in open volumes in its crystal lattice. This could be caused by the ingress of H 2 O molecules into the cation vacancies. In parallel, chemical changes in the perovskite films upon decomposition are observed, accompanied by a decrease in the film thickness as a function of air exposure time. When the perovskite films are decorated with ALD Al 2 O 3 , the latter delays the thickness reduction of the perovskite layer during air exposure and also suppresses the changes in its open volumes and chemical transformations. Our findings illustrate that an improved understanding of the perovskite degradation process can be obtained using DB-PAS, especially when combined with other thin film characterization techniques, such as X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. @en

The degradation of hybrid perovskite films when exposed to ambient air is a major challenge for the development of perovskite-based photovoltaics at large scale. At present, little is known about the environmental degradation of perovskite films associated with the development of structural defects or open volumes (such as atomic vacancies, voids, crystallographic defects and grain boundary defects) in the lattice, and about the depth dependence of the structural degradation. Therefore, in this work, we use Doppler broadening-positron annihilation spectroscopy (DB-PAS) depth-profiling to gain insight into the structural degradation of CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3-x Cl x perovskite when exposed to ambient air. In parallel, we investigate the effect of ultrathin (<1 nm) atomic layer deposited (ALD) Al 2 O 3 processed directly on top of the perovskite as a means to suppress the degradation process. Specifically, we infer that the perovskite degradation involves changes in open volumes in its crystal lattice. This could be caused by the ingress of H 2 O molecules into the cation vacancies. In parallel, chemical changes in the perovskite films upon decomposition are observed, accompanied by a decrease in the film thickness as a function of air exposure time. When the perovskite films are decorated with ALD Al 2 O 3 , the latter delays the thickness reduction of the perovskite layer during air exposure and also suppresses the changes in its open volumes and chemical transformations. Our findings illustrate that an improved understanding of the perovskite degradation process can be obtained using DB-PAS, especially when combined with other thin film characterization techniques, such as X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. @en