Integrating transfer matrix method into SCAPS-1D for addressing optical losses and per-layer optical properties in perovskite/Silicon tandem solar cells

SCAPS-1D software ignores optical losses and recombination junction (RJ) layer in studying tandem solar cells (TSCs). This paper presents an optoelectronic study of a perovskite/Silicon TSC, comparing the effects of using two different methods of calculating filtered spectra on the photovoltaic performance parameters of tandem device. It is shown that integrating transfer matrix ™ method into SCAPS-1D addresses per-layer optical losses and provides a platform for optimizing the RJ layer in TSCs. Using Beer-Lambert (BL) method for calculating the filtered spectra transmitted from the perovskite top sub-cell is revealed to overestimate the cell efficiency by ~4%, due to its inability to fully address optical losses. Also, the BL method fails to tackle any issues regarding optical improvement through ITO ad-layer on the RJ. Using TM formalism, the efficiency of the proposed perovskite/Silicon TSC is shown to be increased from 19.81% to 23.10%, by introducing the ITO ad-layer on the RJ. It is the first time that the effect of filtered spectrum calculation method is clearly investigated in simulating TSCs with SCAPS-1D. The results pave the way to introduce the optical loss effects in SCAPS-1D and demonstrate that the BL method that has been used before needs to be revised.