Enhancing the performance of silicon solar cells via the application of passive luminescence conversion layers

This paper discusses ways of reducing the two major losses encountered in a single-junction photovoltaic (PV) device—that of sub-band gap transmission and lattice thermalisation losses—via the application of passive luminescent devices called up- and down-converters, respectively. Down-conversion (D...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Solar energy materials and solar cells 2006-09, Vol.90 (15), p.2329-2337
Main Author: Richards, B.S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Down-conversion
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
Luminescent solar concentrator
Natural energy
Photovoltaic conversion
Photovoltaics
Silicon
Solar cells
Solar cells. Photoelectrochemical cells
Solar energy
Up-conversion
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Summary:This paper discusses ways of reducing the two major losses encountered in a single-junction photovoltaic (PV) device—that of sub-band gap transmission and lattice thermalisation losses—via the application of passive luminescent devices called up- and down-converters, respectively. Down-conversion (DC) results in the generation of more than one lower energy photon being generated per incident high-energy photon, while up-conversion (UC) generates one photon with energy for every two or more sub-band gap photons absorbed. A related process of wavelength down-shifting (DS) is similar to DC except that the external quantum efficiency of the DS process is less than unity.
ISSN:0927-0248
1879-3398
DOI:10.1016/j.solmat.2006.03.035