Theoretical Demonstration of Hot-Carrier Operation in an Ultrathin Solar Cell

Cavassilas, Nicolas; Makhfudz, Imam; Daré, Anne-Marie; Lannoo, M.; Dangoisse, Guillaume; Bescond, Marc; Michelini, Fabienne

doi:10.1103/physrevapplied.17.064001

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…When an electron-hole pair is generated in the absorber, apart from recombining, the electron (hole) can only go to the right (left) reservoir. This system then behaves like a solar cell [18]. We design the reservoirs in such a way that the energy difference between the valence band maximum of the left reservoir and the conduction band minimum of the right reservoir, called E cv , is greater than E g .…”

Section: Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser Cooling in Semiconductor Heterojunctions by Extraction of Photogenerated Carriers

Dalla Valle,

Bescond,

Michelini

et al. 2023

Phys. Rev. Applied

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

η rad φ in (E) Laser cooling of a semiconductor material, in which heat is extracted by emitting photons, requires a near-perfect external radiative efficiency. In this theoretical work, we propose a cooling system based on carrier extraction in a large gap reservoir. The electron-hole pairs generated in the material to be cooled are extracted in such a reservoir by absorbing phonons, then carrying a heat flux. With an analytical detailed balance model, we show that this concept is applicable even in materials with moderate external radiative efficiency. Moreover, by adjusting the gap of the reservoir to the laser power, this system can either reach high efficiency or transfer high power with lower efficiency.

show abstract

Section: Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser Cooling in Semiconductor Heterojunctions by Extraction of Photogenerated Carriers

Dalla Valle,

Bescond,

Michelini

et al. 2023

Phys. Rev. Applied

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Preliminary study of selective contacts for hot carrier solar cells

Boyer-Richard,

Fan,

Chevalier

et al. 2024

EPJ Photovolt.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hot carrier solar cells are a concept of photovoltaic devices, which offers the opportunity to harvest solar energy beyond the Shockley-Queisser limit. Unlike conventional photovoltaic devices, hot carrier solar cells convert excess kinetic energy into useful electrical power rather than losing it through thermalisation mechanisms. To extract the carriers while they are still “hot”, efficient energy-selective contacts must be developed. In previous studies, the presence of the hot carrier population in a p-i-n solar cell based on a single InGaAsP quantum well on InP substrate at room temperature has been demonstrated by means of complementary optical and electrical measurements, leading to an operating condition for this device beyond the limit for classical device operation. This result allows to design a new generation of devices to increase the hot carrier conversion contribution. In this work, we study InGaAs/AlInAs type II heterojunction as a selective contact for a future hot carrier solar cell device epitaxially grown on (001) oriented InP substrate. Two p-i-n solar cells have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy on InP. The absorber is a 50 nm-thick InGaAs layer surrounded by AlInAs barriers, all lattice-matched to InP. Two architectures are compared, the first with two symmetrical AlInAs barriers and the second with a single InGaAs quantum well in the center of the n-side barrier to allow electron tunneling across the barrier. Electrical characteristics under laser illumination with two different wavelengths have been measured to investigate the effect of the selective contact compared to the barrier. This preliminary study of InGaAs/AlInAs-based selective contacts show that such III–V combination is adapted for a future hot carrier solar cell in the InP technology.

show abstract