Six-junction III–V solar cells with 47.1% conversion efficiency under 143 Suns concentration

Geisz, John F.; Schulte, Kevin L.; Steiner, Myles A.; Norman, A. G.; Guthrey, Harvey; Young, Matthew R.; Song, Tao; Moriarty, T.

doi:10.1038/s41560-020-0598-5

Cited by 486 publications

(376 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Minimization of thermal losses implies that an optimized system intrinsically requires the use of stack structures that cover several smaller spectral ranges with ideal light-harvesting pigment compositions and photovoltaic band gaps [4,11,12,14] for each spectral range ( Figure 1C). Even though multi-stacked luminescent solar concentrators have been suggested previously [15,16] such a layered structure including photovoltaics [17][18][19][20] has not been realized yet.…”

Section: F I G U R E 1 Schematic Depiction Of Lsc Concepts a Schemamentioning

confidence: 99%

On the efficiency limits of artificial and ultrafast light‐funnels

et al. 2020

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Many researchers are recently working on artificial light-harvesters that funnel energy onto high-performance photovoltaics. However, similar to the theoretical photovoltaic Shockley-Queisser limit, there are also physical limits in the maximum efficiency of funneling light energy. Unfortunately, they are very complex and depend on many opposing molecular as well as macroscopic structure factors. For example, higher pigment concentrations absorb more sunlight but lead also to higher, intrinsic reabsorption losses. Molecular orientations increasing incoming light absorption can also increase re-emission losses back into the same direction. Larger spectral absorption ranges collect more sunlight but simultaneously increase losses due to lower emission photon energies. Larger macroscopic areas of light-harvesting material decrease the need for expensive photovoltaic materials but also increase molecular re-absorption losses. Larger pools of energy funneling molecules increase light concentration but also increase energy transfer losses. For finding the optimal overall molecular and macroscopic structure these opposing effects need to be varied within physical feasible boundaries. Here, we present a theoretical assessment that include all necessary molecular and macroscopic parameters and that provided optimized light-harvesting structures representing a new efficiency bench mark. For highest efficiencies, our results indicate that combined organic molecule/quantum particle systems share many of the optimum spectroscopic characteristics.

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Section: F I G U R E 1 Schematic Depiction Of Lsc Concepts a Schemamentioning

confidence: 99%

On the efficiency limits of artificial and ultrafast light‐funnels

et al. 2020

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“…The six-junction TSCs made from III-V compound semiconductors have exhibited an outstanding 1-Sun global efficiency of 39.2%. [10] However, the high costs and sophisticated manufacturing processes of these materials make it difficult for massproduction. Besides high fabrication cost, tandem devices comprised of III-V compound semiconductors and silicon also suffered from the mismatches of thermal expansion coefficient and significant lattice distortion between Si and III-V materials, which dramatically retarded the progress of this technique.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perovskite‐Based Tandem Solar Cells: Get the Most Out of the Sun

Zhang

Meng

et al. 2020

Adv Funct Materials

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Tandem solar cells (TSCs) comprising stacked narrow‐bandgap and wide‐bandgap subcells are regarded as the most promising approach to break the Shockley–Queisser limit of single‐junction solar cells. As the game‐changer in the photovoltaic community, organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites became the front‐runner candidate for mating with other efficient photovoltaic technologies in the tandem configuration for higher power conversion efficiency, by virtue of their tunable and complementary bandgaps, excellent photoelectric properties, and solution processability. In this review, a perspective that critically dilates the progress of perovskite material selection and device design for perovskite‐based TSCs, including perovskite/silicon, perovskite/copper indium gallium selenide, perovskite/perovskite, perovskite/CdTe, and perovskite/GaAs are presented. Besides, all‐inorganic perovskite CsPbI3 with high thermal stability is proposed as the top subcell in TSCs due to its suitable bandgap of ≈1.73 eV and rapidly increasing efficiency. To minimize the optical and electrical losses for high‐efficiency TSCs, the optimization of transparent electrodes, recombination layers, and the current‐matching principles are highlighted. Through big data analysis, wide‐bandgap perovskite solar cells with high open‐circuit voltage (Voc) are in dire need in further study. In the end, opportunities and challenges to realize the commercialization of TSCs, including long‐term stability, area upscaling, and mitigation of toxicity, are also envisioned.

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“…Substrate removal or epitaxial lift‐off (ELO) techniques are currently employed on inverted metamorphic (IMM), 22–25 GaAs, 26 or GaInP/GaAs 27 solar cells to manufacture thin solar cells. The wafer spalling technique has also been reported as a promising manufacturing process for thin single‐ and multijunction solar cells 28,29 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical and experimental assessment of thinned germanium substrates for III–V multijunction solar cells

Lombardero

Ochoa

Miyashita

et al. 2020

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Solar cells manufactured on top of Ge substrates suffer from inherent drawbacks that hinder or limit their potential. The most deleterious ones are heavy weight, high bulk recombination, lack of photon confinement, and an increase of the heat absorption. The use of thinned Ge substrates is herein proposed as a possible solution to the aforementioned challenges. The potential of a thinned Ge subcell inside a standard GaInP/Ga(In)As/Ge triple-junction solar cell is assessed by simulations, pointing to an optimum thickness around 5-10 μm. This would reduce the weight by more than 90%, whereas the available current for the Ge subcell would decrease only by 5%. In addition, the heat absorption for wavelengths beyond 1600 nm would decrease by more than 85%. The performance of such a device is highly influenced by the front and back surface recombination of the p-n junction. Simulations remark that good back surface passivation is mandatory to avoid losing power generation by thinning the substrate. In contrast, it has been found that front surface recombination lowers the power generation in a similar manner for thin and thick solar cells. Therefore, the benefits of thinning the substrate are not limited by the front surface recombination. Finally, Ge single-junction solar cells thinned down to 85 μm by wet etching processes are demonstrated. The feasibility of the thinning process is supported by the limited losses measured in the current generation (less than 6%) and generated voltage (4%) for the thinnest solar cell manufactured.

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Six-junction III–V solar cells with 47.1% conversion efficiency under 143 Suns concentration

Cited by 486 publications

References 61 publications

On the efficiency limits of artificial and ultrafast light‐funnels

On the efficiency limits of artificial and ultrafast light‐funnels

Perovskite‐Based Tandem Solar Cells: Get the Most Out of the Sun

Theoretical and experimental assessment of thinned germanium substrates for III–V multijunction solar cells

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