Increasing conversion efficiency of two-step photon up-conversion solar cell with a voltage booster hetero-interface

Asahi, Shigeo; Kusaki, Kazuki; Harada, Yukihiro

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-19155-x

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Asahi et al use detailed balance to model the wide-and narrow-band-gap materials in the TPU-SC and predict potential net solar conversion efficiencies greater than 50%. 62 The advantage of the TPU device design, relative to IBSCs, is that electrons do not have to flow through a region that contains numerous mid-gap states, which consequently reduces the probability of trap-state-mediated carrier trapping or relaxation. Holes do have to flow across the interface, but the amount of energy lost at this interface could be minimized through control over the valence band alignments, which would require additional composition engineering.…”

Section: Intermediate-band and Photon Ratchet Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Upconversion of low-energy photons in semiconductor nanostructures for solar energy harvesting

Chen

Milleville

Zide

et al. 2018

MRS Energy & Sustainability

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Section: Intermediate-band and Photon Ratchet Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Upconversion of low-energy photons in semiconductor nanostructures for solar energy harvesting

Chen

Milleville

Zide

et al. 2018

MRS Energy & Sustainability

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“…1a (positions of the layers are shown on the top). An efficient intraband transition can be expected by inserting a QD layer just beneath the heterointerface with a very thin GaAs spacer layer of 10 nm [55][56][57] . The numerically calculated band diagram of the n-i-n photodetector at 300 K for a bias voltage of 0 V is shown in Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The operating principle of a photodetector resembles that of a solar cell, and thus, it seems feasible to redesign a suited solar cell in order to realize IR sensing at room temperature. Recently, we proposed and demonstrated the so-called two-step photon up-conversion solar cell (TPU-SC) [55][56][57][58] . This device basically consists of a single heterointerface between an intrinsic Al 0.3 Ga 0.7 As layer and an intrinsic GaAs layer, embedded between n-doped Al 0.3 Ga 0.7 As and p-doped GaAs layers to form a p-i-n junction.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Infrared photodetector sensitized by InAs quantum dots embedded near an Al0.3Ga0.7As/GaAs heterointerface

Murata

Asahi

Sanguinetti

2020

Sci Rep

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Mid-infrared sensors detect infrared radiation emitted from objects, and are actually widely used for monitoring gases and moisture as well as for imaging objects at or above room temperature. Infrared photodetectors offer fast detection, but many devices cannot provide high responsivity at room temperature. Here we demonstrate infrared sensing with high responsivity at room temperature. The central part of our device is an Al 0.3 Ga 0.7 As/GaAs heterostructure containing inAs quantum-dot (QD) layer with a 10-nm-thick GaAs spacer. In this device, the electrons that have been accumulated at the heterointerface are transferred to the conduction band of the Al 0.3 Ga 0.7 As barrier by absorbing infrared photons and the following drift due to the electric field at the interface. These intraband transitions at the heterointerface are sensitized by the QDs, suggesting that the presence of the QDs increases the strength of the intraband transition near the heterointerface. The room-temperature responsivity spectrum exhibits several peaks in the mid-infrared wavelength region, corresponding to transitions from the inAs QD and wetting layer states as well as the transition from the quantized state of the triangular potential well at the two-dimensional heterointerface. We find that the responsivity is almost independent of the temperature and the maximum value at 295 K is 0.8 A/W at ~ 6.6 µm for a bias of 1 V, where the specific detectivity is 1.8 × 10 10 cmHz 1/2 /W.

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“…Thus, the TPU-SC design is able to improve the photocurrent and the photovoltage, and therefore, the SC e ciency. The maximum theoretical e ciencies of a TPU-SC with a CB discontinuity at the heterointerface that is 50% larger than the VB discontinuity are 46.7% and 63.2% under 1-sun and 10,000-sun illumination respectively 1,17 . Therefore, the TPU-SC concept is one of the SC concepts that may help to realize high-e ciency single-junction SCs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Intraband Transitions at a CsPbBr3/GaAs Heterointerface in a Two-Step Photon Upconversion Solar Cell

Mahamu,

Asahi,

Kita

2024

Preprint

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Two-step photon upconversion solar cells (TPU-SCs) based on III–V semiconductors can achieve enhanced sub-bandgap photon absorption because of intraband transitions at the heterointerface. From a technological aspect, the question arose whether similar intraband transitions can be realized by using perovskite/III–V semiconductor heterointerfaces. In this article, we demonstrate a TPU-SC based on a CsPbBr3/GaAs heterointerface. Such a solar cell can ideally achieve an energy conversion efficiency of 48.5% under 1-sun illumination. This is 2.1% higher than the theoretical efficiency of an Al0.3Ga0.7As/GaAs-based TPU-SC. Experimental results of the CsPbBr3/GaAs-based TPU-SC show that both the short-circuit current JSC and the open-circuit voltage VOC increase with additional illumination of sub-bandgap photons. We analyze the excitation power dependence of JSC for different excitation conditions to discuss the mechanisms behind the enhancement. In addition, the observed voltage-boost clarifies that the JSC enhancement is caused by an adiabatic optical process at the CsPbBr3/GaAs heterointerface, where sub-bandgap photons efficiently pump the electrons accumulated at the heterointerface to the conduction band of CsPbBr3. Besides the exceptional optoelectronic properties of CsPbBr3 and GaAs, the availability of a CsPbBr3/GaAs heterointerface for two-step photon upconversion paves the way for the development of high-efficiency perovskite/III–V semiconductor-based single-junction solar cells.

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Increasing conversion efficiency of two-step photon up-conversion solar cell with a voltage booster hetero-interface

Cited by 17 publications

References 32 publications

Upconversion of low-energy photons in semiconductor nanostructures for solar energy harvesting

Upconversion of low-energy photons in semiconductor nanostructures for solar energy harvesting

Infrared photodetector sensitized by InAs quantum dots embedded near an Al0.3Ga0.7As/GaAs heterointerface

Intraband Transitions at a CsPbBr3/GaAs Heterointerface in a Two-Step Photon Upconversion Solar Cell

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