Fabrication

Pathology

Nanotechnology

Energy conversion efficiency

Tandem

Crystallography

Absorption (acoustics)

Perovskite (structure)

Wafer

Composite material

Chemistry

Materials science

Alternative medicine

Layer (electronics)

Plasmonic solar cell

Silicon

Polymer solar cell

Optoelectronics

Medicine

Nature Nanotechnology

Perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells offer the possibility of overcoming the power conversion efficiency limit of conventional silicon solar cells. Various textured tandem devices have been presented aiming at improved optical performance, but optimizing film growth on surface-textured wafers remains challenging. Here we present perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells with periodic nanotextures that offer various advantages without compromising the material quality of solution-processed perovskite layers. We show a reduction in reflection losses in comparison to planar tandems, with the new devices being less sensitive to deviations from optimum layer thicknesses. The nanotextures also enable a greatly increased fabrication yield from 50% to 95%. Moreover, the open-circuit voltage is improved by 15 mV due to the enhanced optoelectronic properties of the perovskite top cell. Our optically advanced rear reflector with a dielectric buffer layer results in reduced parasitic absorption at near-infrared wavelengths. As a result, we demonstrate a certified power conversion efficiency of 29.80%.

Nano-optical designs for high-efficiency monolithic perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells