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Impact of solar upconversion on photovoltaic cell efficiency: optical models of state-of-the-art solar cells with upconverters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2014

Inna Kozinsky ,
Yi Xiang Yeng  and
Yao Huang
Inna Kozinsky
Affiliation:
Research and Technology Center, Robert Bosch LLC, Palo Alto, CA 94304, U.S.A.
Yi Xiang Yeng
Affiliation:
Research and Technology Center, Robert Bosch LLC, Palo Alto, CA 94304, U.S.A. Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A.
Yao Huang
Affiliation:
Research and Technology Center, Robert Bosch LLC, Palo Alto, CA 94304, U.S.A.
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Abstract

Current photovoltaic technologies harvest only a fraction of incoming solar energy since they are unable to utilize photons with energies below the cell band gap. Placed behind a solar cell, the upconverter converts transmitted low-energy photons to photons with energies higher than the cell band gap. The higher energy photons are absorbed by the solar cell and contribute to the photocurrent. We developed optical models of several state-of-the-art commercial and research thin-film solar cells incorporating the upconversion layer. We present both analytical models based on published EQE data as well as detailed finite difference time domain (FDTD) models that incorporate absorption in all cell layers. We model the improvement in absorption and overall cell performance of amorphous Si, CIGS, GaAs, CdTe, and Cu2O cells with upconverting layers. We incorporate and discuss the effect of interface texture and different cell layers on the absorption of upconverted photons and make suggestions for improving the overall cell design to get the maximum benefit from upconversion. We estimate that the cell efficiency enhancement can range from 0.5% to up to 5% absolute depending on the cell type and upconversion efficiency. This work connects to the fundamental efficiency limit analysis of narrow-bandwidth solar upconversion by our collaborators [1], but presents concrete optical models of current solar cells and discusses the promise of upconversion for particular applications.

Keywords

photovoltaictextureabsorption
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1638: Symposium W – Next-Generation Inorganic Thin-Film Photovoltaics , 2014 , mrsf13-1638-w04-02
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2014 

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