Four-terminal perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell with integrated Mie-resonant spectral splitter metagrating

Abstract: A spectral splitting, light trapping dielectric metasurface is designed, fabricated and integrated into a four-terminal perovskite/silicon hybrid tandem solar cell to increase the absorption of light close to the bandgap of the perovskite top cell, and enhance transmission of the near-infrared spectral band towards the bottom cell. The metagrating is composed of a hexagonal array of unit cells of 150-nm-tall hydrogenated amorphous silicon trimer nanostructures with dielectric Mie resonances in the 600-800 nm perovskite near-gap region, made using substrate-conformal imprint lithography. By tailoring the metasurface resonant scattering modes and their interference with the direct reflection paths we minimize specular reflection and obtain high diffraction efficiency that leads to improved light trapping in the perovskite top cell. The measured short-circuit current increase in the perovskite top cell is 0.5 mA/cm2 corresponding to an estimated efficiency gain of 0.26% (absolute) for the metasurface-integrated 4T perovskite/silicon tandem cell. Simulations for a further optimized metasurface spectrum splitter geometry predict a short-circuit current gain in the perovskite top cell of 1.4 mA/cm2 and an efficiency gain for the 4T tandem cell of 0.4% (absolute). The metagrating approach for simultaneous spectral splitting, light trapping and reflectance reduction provides a flexible platform that can be applied to many tandem cell geometries.