Evaluation of external quantum efficiency of a 12.35% tandem solar cell comprising dye-sensitized and CIGS solar cells

A tandem solar cell is constructed by series connection of a semi-transparent dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) as a top cell and a Cu(ln, Ga)Se-2 (CIGS) solar cell as a bottom cell, where the isolated DSSC and CIGS cells show the conversion efficiency of 8.27% and 11.71%, respectively. The DSSC/CIGS tandem cell exhibits the improved conversion efficiency of 12.35% with photocurrent density of 14.1 mA/cm(2), open-circuit voltage of 1.435 V and fill factor of 0.61. External quantum efficiency (EQE) of the tandem cell is investigated under DC and AC modes. EQE of the isolated DSSC and CIGS cell can be measured by either DC mode or AC mode, whereas EQE for the tandem cell is detected only under AC mode with bias light. Bias light intensity is found to play the crucial role in determining the precise EQE of the tandem cell. At the given chopping frequency as low as 10 Hz, the measured EQE at bias light corresponding to 1 sun intensity is consistent with the simulated EQE data. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.