Increased Spectrum Utilization with GaAsP/SiGe Solar Cells Grown on Silicon Substrates

MRS Advances ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (43) ◽  
pp. 2901-2906
Author(s):  
Anastasia H. Soeriyadi ◽  
Brianna Conrad ◽  
Xin Zhao ◽  
Dun Li ◽  
Li Wang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTWorld-record solar-to-electricity energy conversion efficiency has been previously achieved by photovoltaic devices that maximize the use of the solar spectrum, such as multi-junction tandem solar cells. These cells are made of III-V materials whose high cost is a strong limitation on their widespread commercial application. One solution to suppress the cost of these types of devices is to grow III-V solar cells on low-cost carrier materials such as silicon. We will discuss the material, structure and analysis of GaAsP/SiGe-on-silicon multi-junction tandem solar cells. A low threading dislocation density is realized by effective lattice-matching of the top and bottom cells which demonstrate a device that achieves high open-circuit voltage in the top solar cell. The GaAsP/SiGe solar cells have reached a measured efficiency of 20.6% under one sun concentration. Analysis of these results based on the product of the best parameters shows efficiency potential of 26% under one sun, 30.8% at 20× and 35.1% at 400×.

Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sirona Valdueza-Felip ◽  
Rodrigo Blasco ◽  
Javier Olea ◽  
Alba Díaz-Lobo ◽  
Alejandro F. Braña ◽  
...  

We investigate the photovoltaic performance of solar cells based on n-AlxIn1−xN (x = 0–0.56) on p-Si (100) hetero-junctions deposited by radio frequency sputtering. The AlxIn1−xN layers own an optical bandgap absorption edge tuneable from 1.73 eV to 2.56 eV within the Al content range. This increase of Al content results in more resistive layers (≈10−4–1 Ω·cm) while the residual carrier concentration drops from ~1021 to ~1019 cm−3. As a result, the top n-contact resistance varies from ≈10−1 to 1 MΩ for InN to Al0.56In0.44N-based devices, respectively. Best results are obtained for devices with 28% Al that exhibit a broad external quantum efficiency covering the full solar spectrum with a maximum of 80% at 750 nm, an open-circuit voltage of 0.39 V, a short-circuit current density of 17.1 mA/cm2 and a conversion efficiency of 2.12% under air mass 1.5 global (AM1.5G) illumination (1 sun), rendering them promising for novel low-cost III-nitride on Si photovoltaic devices. For Al contents above 28%, the electrical performance of the structures lessens due to the high top-contact resistivity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaya Madan ◽  
Karanveer Singh ◽  
Rahul Pandey

AbstractThe major losses that limit the efficiency of a single-junction solar cell are thermalization loss and transmission loss. Thus, to efficiently utilize the full solar spectrum and to mitigate these losses, tandem solar cells (TSC) have significantly impacted the photovoltaic (PV) landscape. In this context, the research on perovskite/silicon tandems is currently dominating the research community. The stability improvements of perovskite materials and mature fabrication techniques of silicon have underpinned the rapid progress of perovskite/silicon TSC. However, the low absorption coefficient and high module cost of the silicon are the tailbacks for the mass production of perovskite/silicon TSCs. Therefore, PV technology demands to explore some new materials other than Si to be used as absorber layer in the bottom cell. Thus, here in this work, to mitigate the aforementioned losses and to reduce cost, a 23.36% efficient two-terminal perovskite-PbS CQD monolithic tandem solar cell has been designed through comprehensive device simulations. Before analyzing the performance of the proposed TSC, the performance of perovskite top cells has been optimized in terms of variation in optical properties, thickness, and interface defect density under standalone conditions. Thereafter, filtered spectrum and associated integrated filtered power by the top cell at different perovskite thickness from 50 to 500 nm is obtained to conceive the presence of the top cell above the bottom cell with different perovskite thickness. The current matching by concurrently varying the thickness of both the top and bottom subcell has also been done to obtain the maximum deliverable tandem JSC for the device under consideration. The top/bottom subcell with current matched JSC of 16.68 mA cm−2/16.62 mA cm−2 showed the conversion efficiency of 14.60%/9.07% under tandem configuration with an optimized thickness of 143 nm/470 nm, where the top cell is simulated under AM1.5G spectrum, and bottom cell is exposed to the spectrum filtered by 143 nm thick top cell. Further, the voltages at equal current points are added together to generate tandem J–V characteristics. This work concludes a 23.36% efficient perovskite-PbS CQD tandem design with 1.79 V (VOC), 16.67 mA cm−2 (JSC) and 78.3% (FF). The perovskite-PbS CQD tandem device proposed in this work may pave the way for the development of high-efficiency tandem solar cells for low-cost applications.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina M. Winkler ◽  
Ines Ketterer ◽  
Alexander J. Bett ◽  
Özde Kabakli ◽  
Martin Bivour ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 997-1005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Cao ◽  
Xinyun Zhu ◽  
Xingyu Tong ◽  
Jing Zhou ◽  
Jian Ni ◽  
...  

Nanophotonics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manvika Singh ◽  
Rudi Santbergen ◽  
Indra Syifai ◽  
Arthur Weeber ◽  
Miro Zeman ◽  
...  

Abstract Since single junction c-Si solar cells are reaching their practical efficiency limit. Perovskite/c-Si tandem solar cells hold the promise of achieving greater than 30% efficiencies. In this regard, optical simulations can deliver guidelines for reducing the parasitic absorption losses and increasing the photocurrent density of the tandem solar cells. In this work, an optical study of 2, 3 and 4 terminal perovskite/c-Si tandem solar cells with c-Si solar bottom cells passivated by high thermal-budget poly-Si, poly-SiOx and poly-SiCx is performed to evaluate their optical performance with respect to the conventional tandem solar cells employing silicon heterojunction bottom cells. The parasitic absorption in these carrier selective passivating contacts has been quantified. It is shown that they enable greater than 20 mA/cm2 matched implied photocurrent density in un-encapsulated 2T tandem architecture along with being compatible with high temperature production processes. For studying the performance of such tandem devices in real-world irradiance conditions and for different locations of the world, the effect of solar spectrum and angle of incidence on their optical performance is studied. Passing from mono-facial to bi-facial tandem solar cells, the photocurrent density in the bottom cell can be increased, requiring again optical optimization. Here, we analyse the effect of albedo, perovskite thickness and band gap as well as geographical location on the optical performance of these bi-facial perovskite/c-Si tandem solar cells. Our optical study shows that bi-facial 2T tandems, that also convert light incident from the rear, require radically thicker perovskite layers to match the additional current from the c-Si bottom cell. For typical perovskite bandgap and albedo values, even doubling the perovskite thickness is not sufficient. In this respect, lower bandgap perovskites are very interesting for application not only in bi-facial 2T tandems but also in related 3T and 4T tandems.


Nanophotonics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui He ◽  
Tingting Chen ◽  
Zhipeng Xuan ◽  
Tianzhen Guo ◽  
Jincheng Luo ◽  
...  

Abstract Wide-bandgap (wide-E g , ∼1.7 eV or higher) perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted extensive attention due to the great potential of fabricating high-performance perovskite-based tandem solar cells via combining with low-bandgap absorbers, which is considered promising to exceed the Shockley–Queisser efficiency limit. However, inverted wide-E g PSCs with a minimized open-circuit voltage (V oc) loss, which are more suitable to prepare all-perovskite tandem devices, are still lacking study. Here, we report a strategy of adding 1,3,5-tris (bromomethyl) benzene (TBB) into wide-E g perovskite absorber to passivate the perovskite film, leading to an enhanced average V oc. Incorporation of TBB prolongs carrier lifetimes in wide-E g perovskite due to reduction of defects in perovskites and makes a better energy level matching between perovskite absorber and electron transport layer. As a result, we achieve the power conversion efficiency of 17.12% for our inverted TBB-doped PSC with an enhanced V oc of 1.19 V, compared with that (16.14%) for the control one (1.14 V).


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 1141-1147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily L. Warren ◽  
Michael G. Deceglie ◽  
Michael Rienäcker ◽  
Robby Peibst ◽  
Adele C. Tamboli ◽  
...  

Three-terminal tandem solar cells can provide a robust operating mechanism to efficiently capture the solar spectrum without the need to current match sub-cells or fabricate complicated metal interconnects.


2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 3167-3179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie E. Gledhill ◽  
Brian Scott ◽  
Brian A. Gregg

Organic photovoltaic devices are poised to fill the low-cost, low power niche in the solar cell market. Recently measured efficiencies of solid-state organic cells are nudging 5% while Grätzel’s more established dye-sensitized solar cell technology is more than double this. A fundamental understanding of the excitonic nature of organic materials is an essential backbone for device engineering. Bound electron-hole pairs, “excitons,” are formed in organic semiconductors on photo-absorption. In the organic solar cell, the exciton must diffuse to the donor–accepter interface for simultaneous charge generation and separation. This interface is critical as the concentration of charge carriers is high and recombination here is higher than in the bulk. Nanostructured engineering of the interface has been utilized to maximize organic materials properties, namely to compensate the poor exciton diffusion lengths and lower mobilities. Excitonic solar cells have different limitations on their open-circuit photo-voltages due to these high interfacial charge carrier concentrations, and their behavior cannot be interpreted as if they were conventional solar cells. This article briefly reviews some of the differences between excitonic organic solar cells and conventional inorganic solar cells and highlights some of the technical strategies used in this rapidly progressing field, whose ultimate aim is for organic solar cells to be a commercial reality.


Nano Energy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 105400
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ismail Hossain ◽  
Ahmed M. Saleque ◽  
Safayet Ahmed ◽  
Ilhom Saidjafarzoda ◽  
Md. Shahiduzzaman ◽  
...  

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