4.7 Article

Monocrystalline silicon-based tandem configuration for solar-to-hydrogen conversion

Journal

INORGANIC CHEMISTRY COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 116, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.inoche.2020.107926

Keywords

Solar-to-hydrogen production; Photoelectrochemical water splitting; a-SiGe:H thin film solar cells; Tandem solar cells; SW solar cells; Photovoltaic-electrolysis system

Funding

  1. New & Renewable Energy Core Technology Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP)
  2. Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Republic of Korea [20183010014270, 20193010014850]
  3. Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT) [20193010014850, 20183010014270] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)

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Hydrogen gas produced from a photovoltaic power source for water electrolysis is a promising renewable, low-cost, storable, and transportable energy source. Herein, we propose a simply integrated hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H)/silicon heterojunction (SHJ) tandem configuration as an integrated photovoltaic-electrolysis device. By optimising the a-SiGe:H top cell for high efficiency using various band-gap engineering techniques, we achieve effective performance enhancement, with a maximum V-oc of greater than 1.5 V. Assuming an ideal condition wherein the photovoltaic device operates at maximum power and the output conversion performance is maximized, we estimate a solar-to-hydrogen (STH) conversion performance of 13.1%. The integrated a-SiGe:H/SHJ structure can generate a sufficiently high voltage for water electrolysis while using lesser silicon than single junction silicon solar cells connected in series. Consequently, it is a viable option for a low-cost, high-efficiency integrated photovoltaic-electrolysis system and an alternative to traditional hydrogen production from fossil fuels.

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