Monolithic DSSC/CIGS tandem solar cell fabricated by a solution process

Abstract

Tandem architecture between organic (dye-sensitized solar cell, DSSC) and inorganic (CuInGaSe2 thin film solar cell, CIGS) single-junction solar cells was constructed particularly based on a solution process. Arc-plasma deposition was employed for the Pt interfacial layer to minimize the damage to the layers of the CIGS bottom cell. Solar cell efficiency of 13% was achieved, which is significant progress from individual single-junction solar cells (e.g., 7.25 and 6.2% for DSSC and CIGS, respectively).

Progress in thin film CIGS photovoltaics – Research and development, manufacturing, and applications

“…A scanning electron microscope cross‐section of a 2‐terminal monolithic tandem cell is shown in Figure . The best efficiencies published for this kind of device so far are 13.0% for a CIGS/dye‐sensitized solar cells and 10.9% for a CIGS/perovskite device. While the 2‐terminal concept has the advantages of reduced material usage, lower parasitic losses due to the reduced number of TCOs and the use of a single electric circuit, it has the disadvantages of needing current matching between the sub‐cells, the requirement for a stable and efficient tunnel/recombination layer and the need for a bottom cell that's stable to the top cell deposition process.…”

“…Unfortunately, CIGS cells with high bandgap suffer from poor electric properties and high sub‐bandgap absorption. Therefore, alternative absorbers such as dye‐sensitized solar cells, cadmium telluride or perovskites have been applied as top cells to investigate the feasibilities. The cells can be connected independently (4‐terminal configuration, Figure ) or in series (2‐terminal configuration), while the latter can be realized by monolithic cell interconnection or by string wise interconnection.…”

Spontaneous solar water splitting by DSSC/CIGS tandem solar cells

“…The monolithic connected DSSC/ CIGS tandem solar cell shows a high V oc , and a g STH of 4.65% was achieved with two tandem solar cells. However, when the traditional I À /I 3 À redox couple was used in the top DSSC, it damaged the bottom CIGS cell (Moon et al, 2015;Wenger et al, 2009). …”

“…In addition, its simple and solution-based fabrication method is compatible with tandem cell fabrication with inorganic solar cells, such as chalcopyrite solar cells, which is another promising material for tandem cell applications due to its tunable band gap (Kaelin et al, 2004). Therefore, this study designed a tandem solar cell consisted of DSSC and chalcopyrite (CuIn x Ga 1Àx Se y S 1Ày ; CIGS) solar cell as a top and a bottom solar cells, respectively (Moon et al, 2015). The CIGS thin film has absorption capability in the shorter wavelength range of sunlight compared to the dye molecule, thereby utilizing the light after transmission through the DSSC.…”

Highly stable tandem solar cell monolithically integrating dye-sensitized and CIGS solar cells

“…To overcome this problem, a ZnO/TiO 2 protection layer on the CIGS sub-cell was applied, but it did not sufficiently resolve the problem 15 . The soft deposition (e.g., arc-plasma deposition) of Pt on the CIGS sub-cell to minimize the damage of the pre-made films during the fabrication of Pt catalyst film was also attempted, but the instability problem remained 16 .…”