Synergy : Systems for Ultra-high

Performance Photovoltaic Energy

Harvesting
26.04.2016
Christophe Ballif

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

Prof. Christophe
Ballif

Prof. Anna
Fontcuberta
i Morral

Prof. Michael
Graetzel

Industrial partners:

Dr. Bjrn
Niesen

Dr. Julien Bailat

Prof. Ayodhya N. Tiwari

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

Goal of the project

Realizing photovoltaic energy harvesting systems based on

tandem solar cells with efficiency beyond that achievable with
state-of-the-art industrial single-junction cells

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

Various markets

Photovoltaic
power plants

Benchmark
0.55-0.8 /W at 17-21 % module
efficiency (95-160 /m2)
Electricity at 5 cts/kWh in sunny
countries

Needs higher
efficiency, lower
manufacturing
costs, higher
reliability (> 30
years lifetime)
C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

Various markets

Ubiquitous energy
scavengers

Benchmark
Application specific
Needs best efficiency at
low-medium illumination
level (shunt free
devices)

Needs higher
efficiency
Acceptable
manfacturing costs
Sufficient reliability

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

Energy scavenger: flexible PV with high performance at

ultra-low illumination

100% manuf. @CSEM

Meas. after encapsulation

W/cm2

Pm = 15
Vm = 0.5 V

Pm = 1.5 W/cm2
Vm = 0.44 V

Copyright 2016 CSEM | Jba/CBa| Page 6

Autonomy for the internet of things

Two 9.4 cm2 PV cells

Jumpers for: series / parallel connection

1000 Lux: Voc = 670 mV per cell; Pmpp = 60 W/cm2 (564 W)
25 Lux:

Voc > 520 mV per cell; Pmpp >1 W/cm2 (>9.4 W)

Copyright 2016 CSEM Didier Domin | Page 7

Small series production for powering the internet of things

Series connection and voltage up

to 1000 V on mm2 possible
Over 5000 chips produced and
tested in 2016 already

Copyright 2016 CSEM Didier Domin | Page 8

Breaking the barriers

Lab record Efficiencies (worldwide):
Silicon solar cells: 25.6%
CIGS: 22.3%
Close to practical limit: 26-27% for Si
(theoretical 1 sun limit 29.4%)

CIGS

CdTe
Perovskite

Solution.?
Source: U. Sydney, updated values added

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

Multi-junction solar cells

Si

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
important

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Tandem cells
Superstrate /
encapsulation
Transparent contact
Perovskite or GaAs NW
top cell
Transparent contact
Optical coupling/
interconnection

Transparent contact
Si or CIGS bottom cell
Rear contact
Substrate /
encapsulation

Several PV technology
combinations:
Top cell:
Perovskites or GaAs nanowires
Bottom cell:
CIGS or Silicon cell
Two tandem configurations:
Mechanically stacked 4terminal tandems
Monolithically integrated 2terminal tandems
C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Top Cell Developement

Superstrate /
encapsulation
Transparent contact
Perovskite or GaAs NW
top cell
Transparent contact
Optical coupling/
interconnection

Transparent contact
Si or CIGS bottom cell
Rear contact

Challenges:
Top cell performance
Electrodes with broadband
transparency
Parasitic absorption in charge
transport layers
Low-temperature processing
Stability
Up-scaling to bottom cell size

Substrate /
encapsulation
C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Proof of concept III-V on Si

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Top cell: GaAs nanowire arrays

Eg(GaAs) = 1.42 eV
Eg(Si) = 1.1 eV
Fontcuberta et al., Nature Photon. (2013)

Monolithic tandem

Mechanically stacked

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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NW embedded in the PDMS and peeled

from the substrate
ITO
PDMS
NW

ITO

1 5x10 /cm
Density
2 3x10
/cm
3 5x10 /cm

of NWs
in PDMS film
NW density
3

1
1 cm

Transmittance
Transmittance
Si solar cell along
with high density NW-PDMS
with low density NW-PDMS

1.0

0.8

EQE

2 m
0.6

0.4

0.2

2 m

0.0
200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Wavelength, nm

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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GaAs nanowire-based cells with

transparent contact

Ti/Au

ITO
GaAs NWs

p-i-n GaAs
NW forest

2 m

ITO
PDMS
p-Si

PDMS
P+-Si
Al
Principal scheme of device

GaAs n-i-p cells are made by radial

doping of nanowires and sputtered ITO
transparent front contact
Proof of concept device with Jsc = 12.5
mA/cm2 and Voc = 0.24 V
C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Validation of concept with Si bottom

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GaInP/ Silicon heterojunction tandem

Mechanically stacked 4-terminal GaInP /

Si heterojunction tandem cell
Cell size: 1 cm2

29.8% certified efficiency

WR for Si-based tandem!
S. Essig et al. To be
published in IEEE JPV

But expensive top cell.

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Top cell: Perovskite solar cell

A = large cation (CH3NH3, Cs)
B = small cation (Pb, Sn)
X = halogen (I, Cl, Br)

A new class of direct

bandgap semiconductor
Green et al., Nature Photon. (2014)

Variable bandgap 1.5 2.3 eV

Most commonly used
material: MAPbI3 with Eg=
1.56 eV

Efficiency > 21%

Potential for low-cost
processing

Substrate (Glass, PET Foil, etc.)

Transparent front electrode
Transport layer (p oder n)
Perovskite
Transport layer (n oder p)
Single-junction: metal electrode
Tandems: Transparent electrode

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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High efficiency single junction

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Stability and performance: Novel PK materials

Small fraction of Cs included into perovskite absorber

Record efficiency of 21.1% measured at MPP
Enhanced stability compared to standard perovskite
materials
M. Saliba et al.,
Energy Env. Sci. 2016

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Low temperature perovskite process:

solution-based
recipe
b.

a.

Sn4+

SnO2

Au

-25

FTO

HTL

Intensity / a.u.

Jsc / mA cm-2

-20

Sn 3d

O 1s

-10

SnO2

FTO

500

-5

Au
HTL

470

460

ESL

450

FTO

600
400
200
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
Binding Energy / eV
Voltage / V

Scan
Jsc
directio
(mA cm-2)
n

Voc
(V)

backward
forward

1.14
1.13

21.3
21.2

480

Perovskite

FTO

490
Ti4+

Ti 2p

TiO2

Perovskite

SnO2

C 1s

TiO2

Perovskite

TiO2

At 10 mV/s

-15

Perovskite

SnO2

SnO2

FF

PCE
(%)

Light
intensity
(mW cm-2)

0.74
0.75

18.4
18.1

98.4

Highly efficient planar perovskite solar cells through band alignment engineering
DOI: 10.1039/C5EE02608C (Communication) Energy Environ. Sci., 2015, 8, 2928

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Low temperature perovskite process:

hybrid vacuum/solution-processing

Pin-hole free perovskite layer

Flat and homogeneous over
5x5cm2 substrates
Controllable thickness and
composition
High sub-bandgap transmittance
C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Perovskite cell with transparent contacts (2)

Hybrid
evaporation/
solutionprocessing
process,
(<150C)

Semitransparent planar perovskite solar cell with 16% efficiency

Maximum power point tracking for > 8 minutes
Negligible hysteresis

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Perovskite mini-module
~10 cm2
~0.2 cm2
~100 cm2
Standard
lab cell size

Mini-module
size

Typical 4-inch
wafer size

Challenges:
1) Obtain uniform perovskite layer over full substrate size
2) Eliminate pinholes in perovskite and transport layers

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Perovskite mini-module: Approach

Uniform perovskite layer by optimized
spin-coating process
Laser scribing to define and
interconnect segments

Module with active area

efficiency of 12.6%
Aperture area efficieny of 11.5%
Soo-Jin Moon et al. IEEE JPV, 2015
Unpublished
C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Bottom cell development

Superstrate /
encapsulation
Transparent contact
Perovskite top cell
Transparent contact
Optical coupling/
interconnection

Transparent contact
Si or CIGS bottom cell
Rear contact

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and silicon

heterojunction bottom cells
Optimization of CIGS absorber
material for tandem cells
Highly transparent electrodes
(ITO, IZO, ZnO:B, )
Rear reflector, to boost infrared
quantum efficiency

Substrate /
encapsulation
C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Exemple: bottom cell: Cu(In,Ga)Se2

20.4%

High SR
suitable as
bottom cell

Efficiencies > 20% with low band gap materials and high
spectral response in the high wavelength region
ideal as bottom cell
A. Chirila et al., Nature Materials 10, 857 (2011)
A. Chirila, P. Reinhard et al., Nature Materials 12, 1107 (2013)

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Si heterojunction cells with amorphous IZO

Baseline process for
21-22% devices
With 22.5% certified

Superior performance
compared to standard
ITO electrode

M. Morales-Masis, et al.
IEEE J. Photovoltaics 5 (2015).

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Mechanically stacked 4-Terminal

tandems
Superstrate /
encapsulation
Transparent contact
Perovskite top cell
Transparent contact
Optical coupling/
interconnection

Transparent contact
Si or CIGS bottom cell
Rear contact

Both sub-cells processed

independently
Offers large freedom for
temperature budget, cell
orientation and surface texture
3 transparent electrodes needed,
resulting in increased parasitic
absorption

Substrate /
encapsulation
C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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4-terminal Perovskite/CIGS tandem solar cell

20.5% efficiency

Voc (mV)

Jsc (mA/cm2)

FF (%)

h (%)

Perovskite top cell

1104

17.4

73.6

14.2

CIGS cell (stand-alone)

699

34.1

76.7

18.3

CIGS bottom cell

667

12.7

74.9

6.3

4-terminal tandem cell

20.5

With low-temperature perovskite cell:

perovskite/CIGS tandem efficiency record!
Fu et al., Nat. Commun. 6, 8932 (2015)

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Perovskite/silicon heterojunction 4-terminal

tandem measurements
PSC reverse
PSC forward
PSC Mpp tracking
SHJ
SHJ filtered

Voc
1050
1044

Jsc
19.8
19.7

FF
75.6
77.2

724
701

38.3
16.4

78.3
78.2

4-terminal tandem measurement efficiency (stab. Meas.)

Eff.
15.76
15.98
16.05
21.73
8.96
25.01

Aperture area:
PSC cell: 0.25 cm2
SHJ cell: 4 cm2

With optical coupling liquid between sub-cells and antireflection foil on perovskite glass substrate

unpublished

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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From mechanically stacked to

monolithically integrated
4TT

Change top
cell orientation

p
p
n

nn
p
n p
p

Double-side
polished
bottom

Replace glass
substrate by
silicon cell

2TT

Glass substrate

Recombination layer
Glasssubstrate
substrate
Recombination
layer
Glass

p
n
n
nn

Single-junction perovskite process flow Perovskite top cell in monolithic tandem process flow
MRS spring - EE3.4.2 - jeremie.werner@epfl.ch

33

Low-temperature Perovskite/Silicon
monolithic tandem solar cells

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

Aperture
area (cm2)

Voc
(mV)

Jsc
(mA/cm2)

FF
(%)

Eff.
(%)

1.22
1.22

704
687

32.1
17.0

74.4
77.1

16.8
9.02

with ARF

1.22

1703

16.1

70.9

19.5

w/o ARF

0.17

1670

13.8

78.6

18.1

with ARF

0.17

1692

15.8

79.9

21.4

DSP-SHJ
DSP-SHJ, 53% illumination

Monolithic
tandem

MPP
tracking

19.2
21.2

Highest published performance for perovskite/Si

monolithic tandem!
C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Summary Tandem Efficiencies

Cells

4TT

2TT

Reference

PK/Si

13.4%

P. Lper et al. PCCP, 17, 2014

PK/Si

17%

C. Bailie et al. EES, 2014

Synergy

PK/Si

13.7%

J. Mailoa et al. APL, 106, 2015

PK/Si

21.3%

Oxford PV, first announced at HOPV15

PK/Si

19.6%

J. Werner et al. SolMat, 141, 2015

PK/Si

18%

S. Albrecht et al. EES, 2015

PK/Si

21.2%

J. Werner et al. JPCL, 7, 2016

Synergy
Synergy

PK/Si

19.8%

D. McMeekin et al. Science, 351, 2016

PK/Si

20.1%

Duong et al. IEEE JPV, 2016

PK/Si

25.0%

J. Werner et al. Announced at Spring MRS 2016

PK/CIGS

18.6%

C. Bailie et al. EES, 2014

PK/CIGS

19.5%

L. Kranz et al. JPCL 6, 2676, 2015

Synergy

PK/CIGS

20.5%

F. Fu et al. Nat. Commun. 6, 8932, 2016

Synergy

Synergy

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Summary
GaAs nanowire solar cell with transparent electrodes
High-performance perovskite cells with Cs-based absorber material
with enhanced stability and efficiency of 21.2%
Fully laser-scribed 5 cm x 5 cm perovskite mini-module
4-terminal perovskite/CIGS and perovskite/Si tandem cell
measurements with performance up to 25%
Monolithic perovskite/Si tandem cell with >21% efficiency
Promising steps towards optimized tandem devices, with potential
efficiencies beyond 30%
Exploring commercialization paths with industry partners

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016

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Thank you for your attention!

Thanks to all co-workers at EPFL LPI,
PV-lab , LMSC at EMPA and CSEM and
to industry partners for providing
technical and hardware support !

C. Ballif, Nano-Tera.ch Meeting 2016