Oct 2022
Metal halide perovskites have attracted considerable attention in tandem solar cell applications. This interest stems from three unique properties: (i) their high-quality semiconductor properties, which provide high performances, (ii) their bandgap tunability which enables the tailoring of various bottom cell technologies; and (iii) cost-efficient manufacturability as a key enabler for the industrialization. The marriage of perovskite solar cells with mainstream silicon cells in tandem form is particularly appealing for fast market penetration. Indeed, this potential has been explored by several institutes, including KAUST. Nowadays, such devices can be processed with>31% power conversion efficiency at the lab scale and have the potential to be fabricated at >35% in a two-junction form. This potential has been explored intensely over the last decade, where this technology has also started to be a focus of global industrialization efforts, yet mostly at the start-up phase to date. Specifically, their solution-processing on industry-relevant textured crystalline silicon solar cells is critical to unlocking this technology's full potential. Our research efforts at KAUST are also in line with this aspect. This talk delivers the motivation behind working on tandem solar cells, the uniqueness of the perovskite/silicon tandem concept, the progress in the field and research and development activities at KAUST, and finally, our activities to assess their reliability over long years of operation.
Erkan Aydin earned his Ph.D. (2016) degree from the Micro and Nanotechnology Program at TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Ankara, Türkiye. Within the same year, he joined the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Solar Center, Jeddah, KSA, as a postdoctoral researcher and continued in this position until 2020. Currently, he is a Research Scientist at KAUST Photovoltaics Laboratory. His expertise lies in developing the high-efficiency single-junction perovskite and perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells toward the market preparedness from multiple aspects such as novel device architectures, fabrication methods, performance enhancements, scaling-up, and long-term stability assessments.