Research Paper: Solution-Processed Metal-Oxide Nanoparticles to Prevent The Sputtering Damage in Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells
Scientific Summary
This study addresses the critical challenge of sputtering damage in semitransparent perovskite solar cells (ST-PSCs) used in high-efficiency perovskite/silicon tandem devices. The main goal was to develop a scalable, cost-effective solution-processed buffer layer (PBL) to protect the perovskite stack during transparent electrode deposition, replacing expensive and slow atomic layer deposition (ALD) methods. Researchers investigated various metal-oxide nanoparticle solutions, identifying AZO N-21X as the optimal PBL due to its superior resilience to sputtering damage, effective UV shielding, and favorable vertical crystal growth when applied via dynamic spin-coating. Integrating this optimized ST-PSC onto p-type silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells with an unpolished rear surface resulted in monolithic tandem devices achieving a record 25.3% power conversion efficiency (PCE). The unpolished rear surface proved effective for light trapping, significantly boosting absorption and negating the need for complex texturization.
Why it Matters
The findings are crucial for advancing sustainable photovoltaic technologies by providing a cost-effective and scalable manufacturing pathway for high-efficiency perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells. The use of solution-processed AZO nanoparticles as a protective buffer layer significantly enhances device robustness and stability against sputtering damage, which is a major hurdle in industrial production. Furthermore, demonstrating that an unpolished rear silicon surface can achieve effective light trapping simplifies device fabrication and reduces manufacturing costs, making these high-performance tandem cells more commercially viable and accelerating their market adoption.
Publication Details
Magliano, E., Di Giacomo, F., Sathy, H.R., Pourmotlagh, S.M., Giliberti, G., Rodriguez, D.B., Ammirati, G., Mariani, P., Zarotti, F., Matteocci, F., Luce, M., Usatii, I., Bobeico, E., Della Noce, M., Cricenti, A., Cappelluti, F., Mercaldo, L.V. and Di Carlo, A. (2025), Solution-Processed Metal-Oxide Nanoparticles to Prevent The Sputtering Damage in Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 17, 17599−17610. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.5c00090.
Fluxim Tools Used
The commercial software Setfos (Fluxim AG) was utilized for optoelectronic simulations. Setfos accurately modelled the optical behavior of the multilayer tandem stack using the transfer matrix method (TMM) and incorporated a 3D ray tracer to account for light scattering from rough interfaces. This enabled the simulation of External Quantum Efficiency (EQE) spectra for silicon heterojunction (SHJ) devices with different rear surface textures (flat, unpolished, pyramidal).
Why it Matters (Fluxim Tools)
Setfos was instrumental in validating the light management strategy by confirming that the unpolished rear surface of the silicon wafer effectively enhanced absorption, matching experimental EQE data. This quantitative confirmation was crucial for establishing the viability of this cost-effective manufacturing simplification, highlighting Setfos's benefit in providing critical optical insights and predictive modeling for complex device architectures