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Design optimization of bifacial perovskite minimodules for improved efficiency and stability

Nature Energy volume 8, pages 675–684 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

The efficiency and stability of bifacial perovskite solar modules are still relatively low. Here we report bifacial minimodules with front efficiency comparable to opaque monofacial counterparts, while gaining additional energy from albedo light. We add a hydrophobic additive to the hole transport layer to protect the perovskite films from moisture. We integrate silica nanoparticles with proper size and spacing in perovskite films to recover the absorption loss induced by the absence of reflective metal electrodes. The small-area single-junction bifacial perovskite cells have a power-generation density of 26.4 mW cm−2 under 1 sun illumination and an albedo of 0.2. The bifacial minimodules show front efficiency of over 20% and bifaciality of 74.3% and thus a power-generation density of over 23 mW cm−2 at an albedo of 0.2. The bifacial minimodule retains 97% of its initial efficiency after light soaking under 1 sun for over 6,000 hours at 60 ± 5 °C.

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Fig. 1: Bifacial perovskite module structure and efficiency simulation.
Fig. 2: Hydrophobic additive in the HTL.
Fig. 3: Enhancing absorption and photocurrent by embedded SiO2 NPs.
Fig. 4: Photovoltaic performance of bifacial perovskite solar cells and minimodules.

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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the published article and its supplementary information. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for financial support. This work was performed in part at the Chapel Hill Analytical and Nanofabrication Laboratory, CHANL, supported by the National Science Foundation grant ECCS-2025064. XPS characterization was supported in part by the Center for Hybrid Approaches in Solar Energy to Liquid Fuels (CHASE), an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under award number DE-SC0021173.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Hangyu Gu, Chengbin Fei, Guang Yang, Bo Chen, Md Aslam Uddin, Hengkai Zhang, Zhenyi Ni, Haoyang Jiao, Wenzhan Xu, Zijie Yan & Jinsong Huang

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Jinsong Huang

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Contributions

J.H. and H.G. conceived the idea. H.G., M.A.U., C.F. and W.X. prepared blade-coating inks. H.G. fabricated perovskite bifacial solar cells and modules. Z.N. and G.Y carried out PL intensity, TRPL and PL mapping measurements. G.Y. optimized the ALD SnO2 buffer-layer growth parameters. B.C. optimized the ITO deposition parameters and measured the contact angle. H.G. and H.Z. performed XRD measurements. H.G. and H.J. studied the decay mechanism of the perovskite module. Z.Y. performed FDTD simulation of light scattering. H.G., J.H. and Z.Y. wrote the paper, and all authors reviewed the paper.

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Correspondence to Jinsong Huang.

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Nature Energy thanks Zhaoning Song and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Gu, H., Fei, C., Yang, G. et al. Design optimization of bifacial perovskite minimodules for improved efficiency and stability. Nat Energy 8, 675–684 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-023-01254-3

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