A puzzling solar cell structure: an exercise to get insight on intermediate band solar cells

Martí Vega, Antonio ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8841-7091, Antolín Fernández, Elisa ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5220-2849, García-Linares Fontes, Pablo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2369-3017, Ramiro Gonzalez, Iñigo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9663-4002, López Estrada, Esther ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4256-9329, Tobías Galicia, Ignacio ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6154-5870 and Luque López, Antonio ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8357-6413 (2013). A puzzling solar cell structure: an exercise to get insight on intermediate band solar cells. In: "39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)", 16/06/2013 - 21/06/2013, Tampa, Florida, EE.UU. pp. 1069-1073.

Description

Title: A puzzling solar cell structure: an exercise to get insight on intermediate band solar cells
Author/s:
Item Type: Presentation at Congress or Conference (Article)
Event Title: 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)
Event Dates: 16/06/2013 - 21/06/2013
Event Location: Tampa, Florida, EE.UU
Title of Book: 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)
Date: 2013
Subjects:
Freetext Keywords: intermediate band solar cell, quantum efficiency model, solar cell modeling
Faculty: E.T.S.I. Telecomunicación (UPM)
Department: Electrónica Física
Creative Commons Licenses: Recognition - No derivative works - Non commercial

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Abstract

We introduce one trivial but puzzling solar cell structure. It consists of a high bandgap pn junction (top cell) grown on a substrate of lower bandgap. Let us assume, for example, that the bandgap of the top cell is 1.85 eV (Al 0.3Ga 0.7As) and the bandgap of the substrate is 1.42 eV (GaAs). Is the open-circuit of the top cell limited to 1.42 V or to 1.85 V? If the answer is ldquo1.85 Vrdquo we could then make the mind experiment in which we illuminate the cell with 1.5 eV photons (notice these photons would only be absorbed in the substrate). If we admit that these photons can generate photocurrent, then because we have also admitted that the voltage is limited to 1.85 V, it might be possible that the electron-hole pairs generated by these photons were extracted at 1.6 V for example. However, if we do so, the principles of thermodynamics could be violated because we would be extracting more energy from the photon than the energy it initially had. How can we then solve this puzzle?

More information

Item ID: 26766
DC Identifier: https://oa.upm.es/26766/
OAI Identifier: oai:oa.upm.es:26766
Official URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumb...
Deposited by: Memoria Investigacion
Deposited on: 25 Jun 2014 17:38
Last Modified: 22 Sep 2014 11:42
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