In Situ Grown Nanocrystalline Si Recombination Junction Layers for Efficient Perovskite-Si Monolithic Tandem Solar...

The perovskite-Si tandem is an attractive avenue to attain greater power conversion efficiency (PCE) than their respective single-junction solar cells. However, such devices generally employ complex stacks with numerous deposition steps, which are rather unattractive from an industrial perspective. Here, we develop a simplified tandem architecture consisting of a perovskite n-i-p stack on a silicon heterojunction structure without applying the typically used indium-tin-oxide (ITO) recombination junction (RJ) layer between the top and bottom cells. It is demonstrated that an n-type hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) grown in situ on an amorphous silicon hole contact layer of the bottom cell acts as an efficient RJ layer, leading to a high open-circuit voltage (V_OC) of >1.8 V and a PCE of 21.4% without optimizing the optical design. Compared to the tandem cell with an ITO RJ layer, the nc-Si:H RJ layer not only improves light management but also achieves a higher V_OC due to superior contact properties with an overlying SnO₂ electron transport layer of the perovskite top cell. Omitting the costly material and its deposition step offers the opportunity toward realizing industrially feasible high-efficiency tandem solar cells.