IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natene/v6y2021i4d10.1038_s41560-021-00805-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Design rules for high-efficiency both-sides-contacted silicon solar cells with balanced charge carrier transport and recombination losses

Author

Listed:
  • Armin Richter

    (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE))

  • Ralph Müller

    (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE))

  • Jan Benick

    (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE))

  • Frank Feldmann

    (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE))

  • Bernd Steinhauser

    (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE))

  • Christian Reichel

    (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE))

  • Andreas Fell

    (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE))

  • Martin Bivour

    (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE))

  • Martin Hermle

    (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE))

  • Stefan W. Glunz

    (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE)
    Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg)

Abstract

The photovoltaic industry is dominated by crystalline silicon solar cells. Although interdigitated back-contact cells have yielded the highest efficiency, both-sides-contacted cells are the preferred choice in industrial production due to their lower complexity. Here we show that omitting the layers at the front side that provide lateral charge carrier transport is the key to excellent optoelectrical properties for both-sides-contacted cells. This results in a conversion efficiency of 26.0%. In contrast to standard industrial cells with a front side p–n junction, this cell exhibits the p–n junction at the back surface in the form of a full-area polycrystalline silicon-based passivating contact. A detailed power-loss analysis reveals that this cell balances electron and hole transport losses as well as transport and recombination losses in general. A systematic simulation study led to some fundamental design rules for future >26% efficiency silicon solar cells and demonstrates the potential and the superiority of these back-junction solar cells.

Suggested Citation

  • Armin Richter & Ralph Müller & Jan Benick & Frank Feldmann & Bernd Steinhauser & Christian Reichel & Andreas Fell & Martin Bivour & Martin Hermle & Stefan W. Glunz, 2021. "Design rules for high-efficiency both-sides-contacted silicon solar cells with balanced charge carrier transport and recombination losses," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(4), pages 429-438, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:6:y:2021:i:4:d:10.1038_s41560-021-00805-w
    DOI: 10.1038/s41560-021-00805-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-021-00805-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41560-021-00805-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hasnain Yousuf & Muhammad Quddamah Khokhar & Muhammad Aleem Zahid & Matheus Rabelo & Sungheon Kim & Duy Phong Pham & Youngkuk Kim & Junsin Yi, 2022. "Tunnel Oxide Deposition Techniques and Their Parametric Influence on Nano-Scaled SiO x Layer of TOPCon Solar Cell: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-29, August.
    2. Changhyun Lee & Jiyeon Hyun & Jiyeon Nam & Seok-Hyun Jeong & Hoyoung Song & Soohyun Bae & Hyunju Lee & Jaeseung Seol & Donghwan Kim & Yoonmook Kang & Hae-Seok Lee, 2021. "Amorphous Silicon Thin Film Deposition for Poly-Si/SiO 2 Contact Cells to Minimize Parasitic Absorption in the Near-Infrared Region," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Hao Lin & Miao Yang & Xiaoning Ru & Genshun Wang & Shi Yin & Fuguo Peng & Chengjian Hong & Minghao Qu & Junxiong Lu & Liang Fang & Can Han & Paul Procel & Olindo Isabella & Pingqi Gao & Zhenguo Li & X, 2023. "Silicon heterojunction solar cells with up to 26.81% efficiency achieved by electrically optimized nanocrystalline-silicon hole contact layers," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 8(8), pages 789-799, August.
    4. Wang, Yunjie & Yang, Huihan & Chen, Haifei & Yu, Bendong & Zhang, Haohua & Zou, Rui & Ren, Shaoyang, 2023. "A review: The development of crucial solar systems and corresponding cooling technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:6:y:2021:i:4:d:10.1038_s41560-021-00805-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.