Silicon / Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells with Reverse Bias Stability down to -40 V. Unveiling the Role of Electrical and Optical Design.

The reverse bias stability is a key concern for the commercialization and reliability of halide perovskite photovoltaics. Here, the robustness of perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells to reverse bias electrical degradation down to -40 V is investigated. The two-terminal tandem configuration, with the perovskite coupled to silicon, can improve the solar cell resistance to severe negative voltages when the tandem device is properly designed.

Circuit quantum electrodynamics of granular aluminum resonators.

Granular aluminum (grAl) is a promising high kinetic inductance material for detectors, amplifiers, and qubits. Here we model the grAl structure, consisting of pure aluminum grains separated by thin aluminum oxide barriers, as a network of Josephson junctions, and we calculate the dispersion relation and nonlinearity (self-Kerr and cross-Kerr coefficients). To experimentally study the electrodynamics of grAl thin films, we measure microwave resonators with open-boundary conditions and test the theoretical predictions in two limits.

Pathways for mitigating thermal losses in solar photovoltaics.

To improve the performance of solar photovoltaic devices one should mitigate three types of losses: optical, electrical and thermal. However, further reducing the optical and electrical losses in modern photovoltaic devices is becoming increasingly costly. Therefore, there is a rising interest in minimizing the thermal losses.

Field Performance versus Standard Test Condition Efficiency of Tandem Solar Cells and the Singular Case of Perovskites/Silicon Devices.

Multijunction cells may offer a cost-effective route to boost the efficiency of industrial photovoltaics. For any technology to be deployed in the field, its performance under actual operating conditions is extremely important. In this perspective, we evaluate the impact of spectrum, light intensity, and module temperature variations on the efficiency of tandem devices with crystalline silicon bottom cells with a particular focus on perovskite top cells.

Impacts of propagating, frustrated and surface modes on radiative, electrical and thermal losses in nanoscale-gap thermophotovoltaic power generators.

The impacts of radiative, electrical and thermal losses on the performances of nanoscale-gap thermophotovoltaic (nano-TPV) power generators consisting of a gallium antimonide cell paired with a broadband tungsten and a radiatively-optimized Drude radiator are analyzed. Results reveal that surface mode mediated nano-TPV power generation with the Drude radiator outperforms the tungsten radiator, dominated by frustrated modes, only for a vacuum gap thickness of 10 nm and if both electrical and thermal losses are neglected. The key limiting factors for the Drude- and tungsten-based devices are respectively the recombination of electron-hole pairs at the cell surface and thermalization of radiation with energy larger than the cell absorption bandgap.