Enhancing solar cell efficiency: the search for luminescent materials as spectral converters

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) technologies for solar energy conversion represent promising routes to green and renewable energy generation. Despite relevant PV technologies being available for more than half a century, the production of solar energy remains costly, largely owing to low power conversion efficiencies of solar cells. The main difficulty in improving the efficiency of PV energy conversion lies in the spectral mismatch between the energy distribution of photons in the incident solar spectrum and the bandgap of a semiconductor material. In recent years, luminescent materials, which are capable of converting a broad spectrum of light into photons of a particular wavelength, have been synthesized and used to minimize the losses in the solar-cell-based energy conversion process. In this review, we will survey recent progress in the development of spectral converters, with a particular emphasis on lanthanide-based upconversion, quantum-cutting and down-shifting materials, for PV applications. In addition, we will also present technical challenges that arise in developing cost-effective high-performance solar cells based on these luminescent materials.

An upconverted photonic nonvolatile memory

“…The nanocrystals in the presence of P3HT have decreased intensity of blue and green emission as shown in Fig. 1e, which indicates that these emissions are successfully reabsorbed by the P3HT molecule through radiative transfer 46 .…”

Modified Pechini Synthesis of Oxide Powders and Thin Films

“…Thin films of luminescent materials are attractive for many technological applications, especially related to display technology , but also for light-conversion layers for photovoltaics (Huang et al 2013) and optical waveguides (Chae et al 2013). Already in 1980 Robertson and van Tol demonstrated that epitaxial luminescent films of rare earth-doped garnets could withstand much higher power densities in cathode ray tubes without degradation than their powder counterparts (Robertson and Van Tol 1980).…”

Studying of Perovskite Nanoparticles in PMMA Matrix Used As Light Converter for Silicon Solar Cell

“…The one of the most straightforward methods of quantum dots application in photovoltaics is their utilization for light conversion in down-conversion (DC) process, which is also known as quantum-cutting [19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. The down-converter transforms one high energy photon into two or more photons of lower energy but simultaneously higher than the bandgap.…”