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

Sung Hwan Moon,Min Woo Lee,Jisu Han,Honggon Kim,Se Jin Park,Sang Hoon Kim,Jin Young Kim,Byoung Koun Min,Yun Jeong Hwang,Doh-Kwon Lee

doi:10.1038/srep08970

Sung Hwan Moon, Min Woo Lee + Show 8 more

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https://doi.org/10.1038/srep08970

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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).

Highlights

Tandem architecture between organic and inorganic (CuInGaSe2 thin film solar cell, CIGS) single-junction solar cells was constructed based on a solution process
A Pt interfacial layer was deposited by the arc-plasma deposition (APD) technique, which is considered to be a lowtemperature and softer deposition method that could minimize the Results As mentioned earlier, one of the most important components in the DSSC/CIGS tandem architecture is the Pt catalyst deposited on the Al-doped ZnO (AZO) layer of a CIGS thin film solar cell
The catalytic properties of the APD-deposited Pt layer was investigated in terms of the conversion efficiency of DSSCs incorporating APD-Pt catalysts with different values of n (Fig. 2f, filled squares), where the conversion efficiency increases with an increase in the number of plasma pulses

Summary

Introduction

Tandem architecture between organic (dye-sensitized solar cell, DSSC) and inorganic (CuInGaSe2 thin film solar cell, CIGS) single-junction solar cells was constructed based on a solution process. Liska et al and Wenger et al suggested the possibility of a tandem type of architecture with DSSC and CIGS based on mechanical stacking as well as a monolithic conjunction[14,15] Such a tandem construction of DSSC with CIGS seems to be an ideal design owing to the optical band-gaps of DSSC (,1.7 eV) and CIGS (,1.1 eV), making them suitable for use as top and bottom cells, respectively (see Fig. 1). The DSSC/CIGS tandem solar cell was fabricated via a simple solution-based process by preparing the CIGS absorber film for the bottom cell using CIGS nanoparticle ink. The Pt catalytic layer in a DSSC is conventionally prepared via a simple thermal decomposition method using a Pt precursor (e.g., H2PtCl6), followed by sintering at 380–450uC under ambient conditions[22] This method cannot be applied during the fabrication of a DSSC/CIGS tandem cell, as the bottom CIGS cell, fabricated prior to the Pt layer, is vulnerable to high-temperature treatments. It is crucial to identify a suitable low-temperature preparation method for the fabrication of the Pt layer

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