Detailed-balance efficiency limits of two-terminal perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells with planar and Lambertian spectral splitters

Abstract: We derive the photovoltaic conversion efficiency limit for two-terminal tandem solar cells with a perovskite top cell and silicon bottom cell with an embedded spectrum splitter. For large-bandgap top-cells a spectrum splitter strongly enhances the efficiency because of enhanced light absorption and trapping. A Lambertian spectral splitter shows a significantly improved effect compared to a planar splitter: we find an ideal efficiency enhancement in the thermodynamic limit for a 500 nm thick top cell of 6% absolute for bandgaps above 1.75 eV. Vice versa, the use of a spectral splitter geometry enables the use of a thinner top cell. Using experimental parameters for perovskite cells we show that for a top-cell bandgap of 1.77 eV a 2.8% absolute efficiency can be gained. The calculations in this work show that integration of a spectral splitter into perovskite/silicon tandem cells with a top bandgap above 1.7 eV can lead to a large increase in efficiency, even with realistic experimental losses and non-unity reflection of the spectral splitter.