Extremely low material consumption III/V solar cell

I. Kolpakov, E.A. Bochicchio, K. Korzun, P.A.L.M. Koolen, B. van Gorkom, W.J.H. Berghuis, R. Veldhoven, J.E.M. Haverkort

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
8 Downloads (Pure)

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 languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPhysics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices XI
EditorsAlexandre Freundlich, Stephane Collin, Karin Hinzer
PublisherSPIE
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9781510648630
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022
EventSPIE OPTO 2022 - Online/Virtual, San Francisco, United States
Duration: 22 Jan 200228 Feb 2002

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE
Volume11996
ISSN (Print)0277-786X
ISSN (Electronic)1996-756X

Conference

ConferenceSPIE OPTO 2022
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Francisco
Period22/01/0228/02/02
OtherSmart 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

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