Increased upconversion performance for thin film solar cells: a trimolecular composition

Photochemical upconversion based on triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA-UC) is employed to enhance the short-circuit currents generated by two varieties of thin-film solar cells, a hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cell and a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC). TTA-UC is exploited to harvest...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemical science (Cambridge) 2016-01, Vol.7 (1), p.559-568
Main Authors: Cheng, Yuen Yap, Nattestad, Andrew, Schulze, Tim F, MacQueen, Rowan W, Fückel, Burkhard, Lips, Klaus, Wallace, Gordon G, Khoury, Tony, Crossley, Maxwell J, Schmidt, Timothy W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amorphous silicon
Chemistry
Devices
Photons
Photovoltaic cells
Solar cells
Thin films
Upconversion
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Summary:Photochemical upconversion based on triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA-UC) is employed to enhance the short-circuit currents generated by two varieties of thin-film solar cells, a hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cell and a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC). TTA-UC is exploited to harvest transmitted sub-bandgap photons, combine their energies and re-radiate upconverted photons back towards the solar cells. In the present study we employ a dual-emitter TTA-UC system which allows for significantly improved UC quantum yields as compared to the previously used single-emitter TTA systems. In doing so we achieve record photo-current enhancement values for both the a-Si:H device and the DSC, surpassing 10 −3 mA cm −2 sun −2 for the first time for a TTA-UC system and marking a record for upconversion-enhanced solar cells in general. We discuss pertinent challenges of the TTA-UC technology which need to be addressed in order to achieve its viable device application. A dual-emitter upconvertor is applied to thin-film solar cells for the first time, generating record figures of merit.
ISSN:2041-6520
2041-6539
DOI:10.1039/c5sc03215f