Enabling high-efficiency photovoltaics by tailoring monochromatic illumination to energy-selective front reflectors

Eric Chen; Sean J. Babcock; Nicholas P. Irvin; Richard R. King

doi:10.1117/12.2568196

20 August 2020 Enabling high-efficiency photovoltaics by tailoring monochromatic illumination to energy-selective front reflectors

Eric Chen, Sean J. Babcock, Nicholas P. Irvin, Richard R. King

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11496, New Concepts in Solar and Thermal Radiation Conversion III; 114960C (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2568196
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2020, Online Only

Abstract

Improved photovoltaic efficiencies by incorporating an internal front reflector in addition to an ideal back reflector is limited to devices with absorber bandgaps below ~1.34 eV due to the availability of AM1.5G photons above the reflector energy-cutoff, i.e. reflector bandgap. However, energy-selective front reflectors especially benefit photovoltaic devices under monochromatic illumination, i.e. laser power converters (LPCs). The efficiency improvements with and without a front reflector as a function of solar cell bandgap are compared under AM1.5G versus monochromatic light at the reflector bandgap. For a GaAs solar cell, where front reflectance enhancements are negligible, over 5% absolute efficiency increase is predicted in a GaAs LPC with a front reflector (605 nm illumination). Bandgap reduction further increases the efficiency enhancement under monochromatic illumination, where up to 60% relative efficiency increase can be achieved at Eg =0.5 eV with E_laser = 1.467 eV.

Conference Presentation

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Eric Chen, Sean J. Babcock, Nicholas P. Irvin, and Richard R. King "Enabling high-efficiency photovoltaics by tailoring monochromatic illumination to energy-selective front reflectors", Proc. SPIE 11496, New Concepts in Solar and Thermal Radiation Conversion III, 114960C (20 August 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2568196

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