Boosting the Efficiency of Perovskite/Organic Tandem Solar Cells via Enhanced Near-Infrared Absorption and Minimized Energy Losses

Adv Mater. 2024 Sep 18:e2408646. doi: 10.1002/adma.202408646. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

The compatibility of perovskite and organic photovoltaic materials in solution processing provides a significant advantage in the fabrication of high-efficiency perovskite/organic tandem solar cells. However, additional recombination losses can occur during exciton dissociation in organic materials, leading to energy losses in the near-infrared region of tandem devices. Consequently, a ternary organic rear subcell is designed containing two narrow-bandgap non-fullerene acceptors to enhance the absorption of near-infrared light. Simultaneously, a unique diffusion-controlled growth technique is adopted to optimize the morphology of the ternary active layer, thereby improving exciton dissociation efficiency. This innovation not only broadens the absorption range of near-infrared light but also facilitates the generation and effective dissociation of excitons. Owing to these technological improvements, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of organic solar cells increased to 19.2%. Furthermore, a wide-bandgap perovskite front subcell is integrated with a narrow-bandgap organic rear subcell to develop a perovskite/organic tandem solar cell. Owing to the reduction in near-infrared energy loss, the PCE of this tandem device significantly improved, reaching 24.5%.

Keywords: organic solar cells; perovskite solar cells; recombination losses; tandem solar cells; ternary structure.