Abstract
III/V semiconductor solar cells feature the highest photon conversion efficiencies (PCE), but they are still too expensive for terrestrial application. Conventional nanowire (NW) solar cells already partially resolve this issue since they can be grown on a silicon substrate and feature a low filling factor (the ratio of the 180 nm NW diameter to 500 nm NW pitch, squared). We take the next step by depositing PMMA micro-lenses with a diameter of 6 μm on top of a NW-array with the same 6 μm pitch, allowing to reduce the material consumption by more than 3 orders of magnitude. According to our FDTD simulations, the material consumption can even be further decreased by reducing the NW length with a factor of 2 down to 1 μm, since the lens is focusing the solar radiation near the top of the nanowires. We also expect a significantly increased Voc due to an increased internal radiative efficiency (IRE) at a higher excitation power. Preliminary measurement show an increase in Voc of at least 50 mV for randomly positioned microlenses on top of a dense NW array with 0.5 μm pitch.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices XI |
Editors | Alexandre Freundlich, Stephane Collin, Karin Hinzer |
Publisher | SPIE |
Number of pages | 4 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781510648630 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Event | SPIE OPTO 2022 - Online/Virtual, San Francisco, United States Duration: 22 Jan 2002 → 28 Feb 2002 |
Publication series
Name | Proceedings of SPIE |
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Volume | 11996 |
ISSN (Print) | 0277-786X |
ISSN (Electronic) | 1996-756X |
Conference
Conference | SPIE OPTO 2022 |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | San Francisco |
Period | 22/01/02 → 28/02/02 |
Other | Smart Photonic and Optoelectronic Integrated Circuits |
Funding
This work was supported by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research NWO.
Keywords
- III/V solar cells
- lensed solar cell
- nanowires