Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T19:47:52.711Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Light management issues in intermediate band solar cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Antonio Martí ,
Elisa Antolín ,
Enrique Cánovas ,
Pablo García Linares  and
Antonio Luque
Antonio Martí
Affiliation:
amarti@etsit.upm.es, Instituto de Energía Solar - UPM, ETSIT Telecomunicación, Avda Complutense 30, Madrid, 28040, Spain, +34 914533551, +34 915446341
Elisa Antolín
Affiliation:
elisa@ies-def.upm.es, Instituto de Energía Solar - Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, ETSI Telecomunicación, Avda Complutense 30, Madrid, 28040, Spain
Enrique Cánovas
Affiliation:
canovas@ies-def.upm.es, Instituto de Energía Solar - Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, ETSI Telecomunicación, Avda Complutense 30, Madrid, 28040, Spain
Pablo García Linares
Affiliation:
p.garcia-linares@ies-def.upm.es, Instituto de Energía Solar - Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, ETSI Telecomunicación, Avda Complutense 30, Madrid, 28040, Spain
Antonio Luque
Affiliation:
luque@ies-def.upm.es, Instituto de Energía Solar - Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, ETSI Telecomunicación, Avda Complutense 30, Madrid, 28040, Spain
Get access

Abstract

This paper discusses several topics related to light management that improve our understanding of the performance and potential of the intermediate band solar cell (IBSC). These topics are photon recycling, photon selectivity and light confinement. It is found that neglecting photon recycling leads to underestimate the limiting efficiency of the IBSC in 7 points (56.1 % vs 63.2 %). Light trapping allows to effectively absorbing photons whose energy is associated to the weakest of the optical transitions in the IBSC, allowing also for higher efficiencies with lower device thickness. The impact of photon selectivity on the cell performance is also discussed.

Keywords

photovoltaicsimulationoptical properties
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1101: Symposium KK – Light Management in Photovoltaic Devices–Theory and Practice , 2008 , 1101-KK06-02
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

[1] Luque, A. and Martí, A., “Increasing the efficiency of ideal solar cells by photon induced transitions at intermediate levels,” Physical Review Letters, vol. 78, pp. 5014–5017, 1997.Google Scholar
[2] Luque, A. and Martí, A., “A metallic intermediate band high efficiency solar cell,” Progress in Photovoltaics: Res. Appl., vol. 9, pp. 73–86, 2001.Google Scholar
[3] Martí, A., Cuadra, L., and Luque, A., “Quantum dot analysis of the space charge region of intermediate band solar cell,” in Proc. of the 199th Electrochemical Society Meeting Pennington: The Electrochemical Society, 2001, pp. 46–60.Google Scholar
[4] Cuadra, L., Martí, A., and Luque, A., “Influence of the overlap between the absorption coefficients on the efficiency of the intermediate band solar cell,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 51, pp. 1002–1007, 2004.Google Scholar
[5] Luque, A., Marti, A., Stanley, C., Lopez, N., Cuadra, L., Zhou, D., Pearson, J. L. and McKee, A., “General equivalent circuit for intermediate band devices: Potentials, currents and electroluminescence,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 96, pp. 903–909, 2004.10.1063/1.1760836Google Scholar
[6] Luque, A., Marti, A., Lopez, N., Antolin, E., Canovas, E., Stanley, C., Farmer, C., Caballero, L. J., Cuadra, L., and Balenzategui, J. L. “Experimental analysis of the quasi-Fermi level split in quantum dot intermediate-band solar cells,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 87, pp. 083505–3, 2005.Google Scholar
[7] Martí, A., Antolin, E., Stanley, C. R. Farmer, C. D. Lopez, N., Diaz, P., Canovas, E., Linares, P. G., and Luque, A., “Production of Photocurrent due to Intermediate-to-Conduction-Band Transitions: A Demonstration of a Key Operating Principle of the Intermediate-Band Solar Cell,” Physical Review Letters, vol. 97, pp. 247701–4, 2006.Google Scholar
[8] Shockley, W. and Queisser, H. J. “Detailed Balance Limit of Efficiency of p-n Junction Solar Cells,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 32, pp. 510–519, 1961.Google Scholar
[9] Martí, A., Balenzategui, J. L. and Reyna, R. F. “Photon recycling and Shockley's diode equation,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 82, pp. 4067–4075, 1997.Google Scholar
[10] Martí, A., Cuadra, L., and Luque, A., “Quasi drift-diffusion model for the quantum dot intermediate band solar cell,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 49, pp. 1632–1639, 2002.Google Scholar
[11] Brown, A. S. and Green, M. A. “Impurity photovoltaic effect: Fundamental energy conversion efficiency limits,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 92, pp. 1329–1336, 2002.Google Scholar
[12] Martí, A., Cuadra, L., and Luque, A., “Intermediate Band Solar Cells,” in NEXT GENERATION PHOTOVOLTAICS: High Efficiency through Full Spectrum Utilization, Martí, A. and Luque, A., Eds. Bristol: Institute of Physics Publishing, 2003, pp. 140–162.Google Scholar
[13] Martí, A., Stanley, C. R. and Luque, A., “Intermediate Band Solar Cells (IBSC) using nanotechnolgy,” in Nanostructured Materials for Solar Energy Conversion Soga, T., Ed.: Elsevier, 2006.Google Scholar