Beyond 30% Conversion Efficiency in Silicon Solar Cells: A Numerical Demonstration

Bhattacharya, Sayak; John, Sajeev

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-48981-w

Cited by 147 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 50 publications

(69 reference statements)

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“…For the specific structure fabricated, there is good overall agreement between theory and experiment. This agreement provides credence to theoretical prediction that with further optimization of the ARC and mesa structure, the MAPD could reach as high as 43.59 mA/cm 2 over the 300-1,200 nm band 1 . While the Teepee and Inverted Pyramid PhCs possess the same square-lattice symmetry, the Teepee PhC cell structure has a deeper and more curved trench in its surface profile.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

“…While traditional 2D photonic crystals guide light in the 2D plane 16 , our new type of 2D photonic crystal deflects sunlight from the z-direction and couples it into the x-y plane 17,18 . In contrast to 165 μm-thick Kaneka cell and 110 μm-thick Lambertian cell, the PhC cells are 10-15 μm thick and have conversion efficiencies exceeding 30% 1,19,20 . The key mechanisms enabling the 30% cell using just 10-15 μm thick silicon are the existence of slow-light resonances and parallel-to-interface refraction (PIR) 21 .…”

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confidence: 99%

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Experimental demonstration of broadband solar absorption beyond the lambertian limit in certain thin silicon photonic crystals

Hsieh

Kaiser

Bhattacharya

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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The tantalizing possibility of 31% solar-to-electric power conversion efficiency in thin film crystalline silicon solar cell architectures relies essentially on solar absorption well beyond the Lambertian light trapping limit (Bhattacharya and John in Nat Sci Rep 9:12482, 2019). Up to now, no solar cell architecture has exhibited above-Lambertian solar absorption, integrated over the broad solar spectrum. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate two types of photonic crystal (PhC) solar cells architectures that exceed Lambertian light absorption, integrated over the entire 300-1,200 nm wavelength band. These measurements confirm theoretically predicted wave-interference-based optical resonances associated with long lifetime, slow-light modes and parallel-to-interface refraction. These phenomena are beyond the realm of ray optics. Using two types of 10-μm thick PhC's, first an Inverted Pyramid PhC with lattice constant a = 2,500 nm and second a Teepee PhC with a = 1,200 nm, we observe solar absorption well beyond the Lambertian limit over λ = 950-1,200 nm. Our absorption measurements correspond to the maximum-achievable-photocurrent-density (MAPD), under AM1.5G illumination at 4-degree incident angle, 41.29 and 41.52 mA/cm 2 for the Inverted Pyramid and Teepee PhC, respectively, in agreement with wave-optics, numerical simulations. Both of these values exceed the MAPD (= 39.63 mA/cm 2) corresponding to the Lambertian limit for a 10-μm thick silicon for solar absorption over the 300-1,200 nm band. The efficiency and cost of photovoltaics has steadily improved in recent years in the effort to create a competitive renewable energy resource. Silicon solar cells have been the dominant driving force in photovoltaics due to the abundance and environmentally friendly nature of silicon. The maximum possible power conversion efficiency of a single junction, crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell under one sun illumination at room temperature is 32.33% 2. The highest efficiency real-world n-type silicon solar cell to date, by Kaneka Corp 3,4 , exhibits 26.7% conversion efficiency, followed closely by the p-type silicon solar cell, by the Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH), Germany with 26.1% efficiency 5,6. An analysis of the Kaneka, 165 μm thick, c-Si cell shows that in the absence of any extrinsic loss mechanism, the limiting efficiency of such a cell is 29.1% 3. The competing factors responsible for this limit of the conversion efficiency are ray-optics light trapping 7,8 and intrinsic loss due to Auger charge-carrier recombination. Essentially, the thicker the cell, the more light is absorbed. However, this is accompanied by increased bulk non-radiative recombination loss of charge carriers. In the case of ideal Lambertian light-trapping and a state-of-the-art Auger recombination model 9 , the optimal silicon thickness is reduced to 110 μm and a theoretical limit to conversion efficiency (assuming no surface recombination losses) is increased to 29.43% 8. In traditional ray-optics based light trapping s...

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental demonstration of broadband solar absorption beyond the lambertian limit in certain thin silicon photonic crystals

Hsieh

Kaiser

Bhattacharya

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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“…much lower than that of silicon-based solar cells (B26.7%). 30,31 This indicates that the scalability is a crucial issue for the successful commercialization of the PSCs.…”

Section: Brief Development Of Perovskite Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in design engineering and merits of electron transporting layers in perovskite solar cells

et al. 2020

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“…Surface passivation and light trapping become essential factors in achieving high efficiency. Simulations of photonic crystal architectures with monocrystalline silicon show possibilities to achieve power conversion efficiencies ≥30% with the use of 15 μm silicon and an interdigitated back‐contact (IBC) architecture . The use of a tandem solar cell architecture also has the potential to achieve such high efficiencies with merely 10–15 μm silicon …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward High Solar Cell Efficiency with Low Material Usage: 15% Efficiency with 14 μm Polycrystalline Silicon on Glass

et al. 2020

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Liquid‐phase‐crystallized silicon (LPC‐Si) is a bottom‐up approach to creating solar cells with the potential to avoid material loss and energy usage in wafer slicing techniques. A desired thickness of silicon (5–40 μm) is crystallized with a line‐shaped energy source, which is a laser, herein. The first part reports the efforts to optimize amorphous silicon contact layers for better surface passivation. The second part covers laser firing on the electron contact. It enables a controllable trade‐off between charge collection and fill factor (FF) by creating a low resistance contact, while preserving a‐Si:H (i) passivation in other areas. Short‐circuit current density (JSC) is observed to be up to 33:1 mA cm−2, surpassing all previously reported values for this technology. Open‐circuit voltage (VOC) of up to 658 mV also exceeded every previous value published at a low bulk doping concentration (1 × 1016 cm−3). Laser firing reduced JSC by 0:6 mA cm−2 on average but improved the FF by 22.5% absolute on average, without any significant effect on VOC. Collectively, these efforts have helped in achieving a new in‐house record efficiency for LPC‐Si of 15.1% and show a potential to reach 16% efficiency in the near future with optimization of series resistance.

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Beyond 30% Conversion Efficiency in Silicon Solar Cells: A Numerical Demonstration

Cited by 147 publications

References 50 publications

Experimental demonstration of broadband solar absorption beyond the lambertian limit in certain thin silicon photonic crystals

Experimental demonstration of broadband solar absorption beyond the lambertian limit in certain thin silicon photonic crystals

Advances in design engineering and merits of electron transporting layers in perovskite solar cells

Toward High Solar Cell Efficiency with Low Material Usage: 15% Efficiency with 14 μm Polycrystalline Silicon on Glass

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