Hot Carrier Solar Cells: Controlling Thermalization in Ultrathin Devices

Bris, Arthur Le; Lombez, Laurent; Laribi, Sana; Guillemoles, Jean‐François; Colin, Clément; Collin, Stéphane; Pélouard, Jean-Luc; Laroche, Marine; Esteban, Rubén; Greffet, Jean‐Jacques; Boissier, Guillaume; Christol, Philippe

doi:10.1109/jphotov.2012.2207376

Cited by 20 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The efficiency enhancement achieved in a device with Q = 2.5 W · K −1 · cm −2 , relative to a thermal equilibrium equivalent device (Q → ∞) is significant for field enhancement factors >1000X. This level of field enhancement has been demonstrated with external solar focusing modules [33], [34]; however, future devices might also employ device integrated nanostructures to achieve the required fields [35], [36].…”

Section: Projected Efficiency Enhancementmentioning

confidence: 96%

Enhanced Hot-Carrier Effects in InAlAs/InGaAs Quantum Wells

Hirst

Yakes

Bailey

et al. 2014

IEEE J. Photovoltaics

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Hot-carrier solar cells require absorber materials with restricted carrier thermalization pathways, in order to slow the rate of heat energy dissipation from the carrier population to the lattice, relative to the rate of carrier extraction. Absorber suitability can be characterized in terms of carrier thermalization coefficient (Q). Materials with lower Q generate steady-state hot-carrier populations at lower levels of incident solar power and, therefore, are better able to perform as hot-carrier absorbers. In this study, we evaluate Q = 2.5±0.2 W · K −1 · cm −2 for a In 0 .52 AlAs/In 0 .53 GaAs single-quantum-well(QW) heterostructure using photoluminescence spectroscopy. This is the lowest experimentally determined Q value for any material system studied to date. Hot-carrier solar cell simulations, using this material as an absorber yield efficiency ∼39% at 2000X, which corresponds to a >5% enhancement over an equivalent single-junction thermal equilibrium device.Index Terms-Hot-carrier solar cell (HCSC), InGaAs, InP, thermalization coefficient, quantum well (QW).

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Section: Projected Efficiency Enhancementmentioning

confidence: 96%

Enhanced Hot-Carrier Effects in InAlAs/InGaAs Quantum Wells

Hirst

Yakes

Bailey

et al. 2014

IEEE J. Photovoltaics

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“…Although quantum confinement certainly plays a role, part of this reduction can purely be ascribed to having a thinner absorber. This is because the number of LO phonon decay channels scales with the absorber volume 23 . Other identified thermalization mechanisms include Auger effect 24 , although it is significant only for carrier concentrations above 10 19 cm −3 in GaAs 25 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of surface and volume hot-carrier thermalization mechanisms in ultrathin GaAs layers

Giteau

Moustier

Suchet

et al. 2020

Journal of Applied Physics

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Hot-carrier solar cells offer the opportunity to harvest more energy than the limit set by the Shockley-Queisser model by reducing the losses due to the thermalization of photo-generated carriers. Previous reports have shown lower thermalization rates in thinner absorbers, but the origin of this phenomenon is not precisely understood. In this work, we investigate a series of ultrathin GaAs absorber layers sandwiched between AlGaAs barriers and transferred on host substrates with a gold back mirror. We perform power-dependent photoluminescence characterizations at different laser wavelengths from which we determine the carrier temperature in four absorber thicknesses between 20 and 200 nm. We observe a linear relationship between the absorbed power and the carrier temperature increase. By relating the absorbed and thermalized power, we extract a thermalization coefficient for all samples. It shows an affine dependence with the thickness, leading to the identification of distinct volume and surface contributions to thermalization. We confirm that volume thermalization is linked to LO phonon decay. We discuss the origin of the interface-related thermalization, showing that the effect of LO phonon transport is negligible. Overall, this work sheds new light on thermalization processes in ultrathin semiconductor layers and introduces a method to compare the performance of hot-carrier absorbers.

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“…Today we find a plethora of promising research on the development and characterisation of hot carrier absorber [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. However, the optical methods used to obtain carrier temperature can be inaccurate when dealing with nanostructures and high excitation fluxes [23][24][25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative experimental assessment of hot carrier-enhanced solar cells at room temperature

et al. 2018

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In common photovoltaic devices, the part of the incident energy above the absorption threshold quickly ends up as heat, which limits their maximum achievable efficiency far below the thermodynamic limit for solar energy conversion. Conversely, if the excess kinetic energy of the photogenerated carriers could be converted into additional free energy, it would be possible to approach the thermodynamic limit. This is the principle of hot carrier devices. Unfortunately, such a device operation in conditions relevant for utilisation has never been evidenced. Here we show that the quantitative thermodynamic study of the hot carrier population, with luminance measurements, allows us to discuss the hot carrier contribution to the solar cell performance. We demonstrate that voltage and current can be enhanced in a semiconductor heterostructure due to the presence of the hot carrier population in a single InGaAsP quantum well at room temperature. These experimental results substantiate the potential of increasing photovoltaic performances in the hot carrier regime.

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Hot Carrier Solar Cells: Controlling Thermalization in Ultrathin Devices

Cited by 20 publications

References 29 publications

Enhanced Hot-Carrier Effects in InAlAs/InGaAs Quantum Wells

Enhanced Hot-Carrier Effects in InAlAs/InGaAs Quantum Wells

Identification of surface and volume hot-carrier thermalization mechanisms in ultrathin GaAs layers

Quantitative experimental assessment of hot carrier-enhanced solar cells at room temperature

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