Hot carrier solar cells

Hanna, Melvin W.; Lu, Z. H.; Nozik, A. J.

doi:10.1063/1.53477

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Operation in a solar cell having constituents at several temperatures obeys a slightly different physics as compared to standard devices. Two supplementary effects need to be taken into account: heat flows between the various temperature reservoirs (quantified by the thermalization rates) and coupled particle and thermal flows (as in Seebeck and Peltier effects).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is an essential indication that the sample can work as a hot carrier absorber with potential conversion efficiency beyond the Schockley Queisser limit. 16 In fact, the sample could be represented by an equivalent electrical circuit represented in the inset of Figure 3. The barrier being a simple diode while the QWs are a diode connected in series with an equivalent thermoelectric device (pseudo-Seebeck effect) that converts the temperature gradient (extra kinetic energy) to an extra voltage.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Experimental evidence of hot carriers solar cell operation in multi-quantum wells heterostructures

Rodière

Lombez

Corre

et al. 2015

Applied Physics Letters

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International audienceWe investigated a semiconductor heterostructure based on InGaAsP multi quantum wells (QWs) using optical characterizations and demonstrate its potential to work as a hot carrier cell absorber. By analyzing photoluminescence spectra, the quasi Fermi level splitting Dl and the carrier temperature are quantitatively measured as a function of the excitation power. Moreover, both thermodynamics values are measured at the QWs and the barrier emission energy. High values of Dl are found for both transition, and high carrier temperature values in the QWs. Remarkably, the quasi Fermi level splitting measured at the barrier energy exceeds the absorption threshold of the QWs. This indicates a working condition beyond the classical Shockley-Queisser limit

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Experimental evidence of hot carriers solar cell operation in multi-quantum wells heterostructures

Rodière

Lombez

Corre

et al. 2015

Applied Physics Letters

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“…Apart from two theoretical studies 13,17 and experimental work showing reduced cooling rates in semiconductor superlattices, 18,19 very little prior work has been undertaken on hot carrier cells. The small distances carriers are likely to move before cooling and the energy selectivity required in contacting further point to the compatibility with low dimensional structures.…”

Section: Hot Carrier Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Third generation photovoltaics: Ultra‐high conversion efficiency at low cost

Green

2001

Progress in Photovoltaics

652

409

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Since the early days of terrestrial photovoltaics, a common perception has been that ®rst generation' silicon wafer-based solar cells eventually would be replaced by à second generation' of lower cost thin-®lm technology, probably also involving a different semiconductor. Historically, cadmium sulphide, amorphous silicon, copper indium diselenide, cadmium telluride and now thin-®lm polycrystalline silicon have been regarded as key thin-®lm candidates. Any mature solar cell technology seems likely to evolve to the stage where costs are dominated by those of the constituent materials, be they silicon wafers or glass sheet. It is argued, therefore, that photovoltaics is likely to evolve, in its most mature form, to a`third generation' of high-ef®ciency thin-®lm technology. By high ef®ciency, what is meant is energy conversion values double or triple the 15±20% range presently targeted, closer to the thermodynamic limit of 93%. Tandem cells are the best known of such high-ef®ciency approaches, where ef®ciency can be increased merely by adding more cells of different bandgap to a cell stack, at the expense of increased complexity and spectral sensitivity. However, a range of other more`paralleled' approaches offer similar ef®ciency to an in®nite stack of tandem cells. These options are reviewed together with possible approaches for practical implementation, likely to become more feasible with the evolution of materials technology over the next two decades.

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“…Carriers generated from high energy photons of at least twice the bandgap energy absorbed in a semiconductor, can undergo 'impact ionization' events which result in two or more carriers close to the band gap energy. Impact ionization is extremely rare in bulk materials but in quantum dots the localization of electrons and holes seems to increase the probability dramatically, although the reason is not yet fully understood [20,21], see Figure 7. Figure 7: Multiple carrier generation in QDs: a high energy photon is absorbed at a high energy level in the QD which then decays into two or more electron-hole pairs at the first confined energy level.…”

Section: Modification Of the Incident Spectrummentioning

confidence: 99%

Third generation photovoltaics

Conibeer

2008

2008 2nd Electronics Systemintegration Technology Conference

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Hot carrier solar cells

Cited by 16 publications

References 1 publication

Experimental evidence of hot carriers solar cell operation in multi-quantum wells heterostructures

Experimental evidence of hot carriers solar cell operation in multi-quantum wells heterostructures

Third generation photovoltaics: Ultra‐high conversion efficiency at low cost

Third generation photovoltaics

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