Charge Carrier Separation in Solar Cells

The selective transport of electrons and holes to the two terminals of a solar cell is often attributed to an electric field, although well-known physics states that they are driven by gradients of quasi-Fermi energies. However, in an illuminated semiconductor, these forces are not selective, and th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE journal of photovoltaics 2015-01, Vol.5 (1), p.461-469
Main Authors: Wurfel, Uli, Cuevas, Andres, Wurfel, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Charge carrier processes
Charge carriers
Conductivity
Electric potential
Force
Photovoltaic cells
Radiative recombination
semiconductor device doping
semiconductor device modeling
semiconductor-metal interfaces
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Summary:The selective transport of electrons and holes to the two terminals of a solar cell is often attributed to an electric field, although well-known physics states that they are driven by gradients of quasi-Fermi energies. However, in an illuminated semiconductor, these forces are not selective, and they drive both charge carriers toward both contacts. This paper shows that the necessary selectivity is achieved by differences in the conductivities of electrons and holes in two distinct regions of the device, which, for one charge carrier, allows transport to one contact and block transport to the other contact.
ISSN:2156-3381
2156-3403
DOI:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2014.2363550