Triboelectricity-enhanced photovoltaic effect in hybrid tandem solar cell under rainy condition

Abstract

The intermittency and power attenuation under low-light and rainy condition of solar cells highlight the necessity for hybrid energy harvesting to prolong its power generation and multi-environment applications. Herein, we develop a dual-mode triboelectric nanogenerator-silicon tandem solar cell (DTENG-Si TSC) featuring the combination of surface-single electrode and contact-separation mode TENGs which endows the maximum energy conversion of droplet kinetic energy. This design yields an open-circuit voltage of 107.8 V and power density of 1.72 W/m² stimulated by one single droplet. Subsequently, the impacts of low-light intensity (250 – 5500 Lux) on the photovoltaic performances of the DTENG-Si TSC with and w/o droplets impingement are systematically investigated, demonstrating the TSC could break through the bottleneck of the limited power conversion efficiency (PCE) of individual Si SC under low-light condition. A PCE of 21.71 % can be achieved by the DTENG-Si TSC, providing a relative enhancement of 10.65 % over the bare Si SC under standard AM 1.5 G solar irradiation at 100 mW cm⁻². In addition, the power density has a remarkable enhancement over 10 % at the light intensity ranging from 500 to 1500 Lux, indicating this structure configuration can effectively extend the power generation and improve the power conversion efficiency of solar cells under low-light rainy condition.