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Dr. Deying Luo

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Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 3E4, Canada
Interests: perovskite materials for photovoltaic applications; perovskite materials for light-emitting diode applications

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Dear Colleagues,

Zero-carbon emissions is the global perspective on the development of a sustainable future. Solar energy, as a clean and sustainable energy, has witnessed an incredible increase in academic and industrial activity over the past several decades. Solar panels provide a direct way to convert solar energy into electricity. Silicon-based solar panels are the prevalent photovoltaic (PV) technology, yet there has been a sizable challenge to decrease the cost for decades in order to compete with the conventional fossil-fuel-based power sources without government subsidies. To seek much more affordable PV technologies, advanced materials for cost-effective PV technologies including organic solar cells, organic–inorganic hybrid solar cells, quantum-dot solar cells, compound semiconductor solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells, perovskite solar cells, tandem/multijunction solar cells, etc. have been explored in both academia and industry. Among them, most PV technologies are still in lab-scale research and are far from practical use. Efforts in cutting-edge research outcomes into action plans for cost-effective PVs are particularly critical in the research community.

This Special issue aims to cover the most recent progress on advanced PV materials, with a particular focus on synthesis, properties, and applications. All kinds of advanced PV materials are welcome. We especially encourage the submission of manuscripts addressing hot materials such as perovskite, organic, quantum dots, organic–inorganic hybrid materials, nanostructured silicon, etc.

Dr. Deying Luo
Guest Editor

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Keywords

perovskite
photovoltaics
solar cells
efficiency
interface

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16 pages, 3999 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Potential of Pure Germanium Kesterite for a 2T Kesterite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cell: A Simulation Study

by Matas Rudzikas, Saulius Pakalka, Jolanta Donėlienė and Arūnas Šetkus

Materials 2023, 16(18), 6107; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16186107 - 07 Sep 2023

Viewed by 789

Abstract

Recently, the development of tandem devices has become one of the main strategies for further improving the efficiency of photovoltaic modules. In this regard, combining well-established Si technology with thin film technology is one of the most promising approaches. However, this imposes several limitations on such thin film technology, such as low prices, the absence of scarce or toxic elements, the possibility to tune optical properties and long lifetime stability. Therefore, to show the potential of kesterite/silicon tandems, in this work, a 2 terminal (2T) structure using pure germanium kesterite was simulated with combined SCAPS and transfer matrix methods. To explore the impact of individual modifications, a stepwise approach was adopted to improve the kesterite. For the bottom sub cell, a state-of-the-art silicon PERC cell was used with an efficiency of 24%. As a final result, 19.56% efficiency was obtained for the standalone top kesterite solar cell and 28.6% for the tandem device, exceeding standalone silicon efficiency by 4.6% and justifying a new method for improvement. The improvement observed could be attributed primarily to the enhanced effective lifetime, optimized base doping, and mitigated recombination at both the back and top layers of the CZGSSe absorber. Finally, colorimetric analysis showed that color purity for such tandem structure was low, and hues were limited to the predominant colors, which were reddish, yellowish, and purple in an anti-reflective coating (ARC) thickness range of 20–300 nm. The sensitivity of color variation for the whole ARC thickness range to electrical parameters was minimal: efficiency was obtained ranging from 28.05% to 28.63%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Photovoltaic Materials: Synthesis, Properties and Applications)

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