Related papers: Hot Carrier Solar Cells : In the Making ?
Hot electrons and holes generated from the decay of localized surface plasmons in metallic nanoparticles can be harnessed for applications in solar energy conversion and sensing. In this paper, we study the generation of hot carriers in…
The power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells based on donor--acceptor blends is governed by an interplay of polaron pair dissociation and bimolecular polaron recombination. Both processes are strongly dependent on the charge…
The use of photoferroic materials that combine ferroelectric and light harvesting properties in a photovoltaic device is a promising route to significantly improve the efficiency of solar cells. These materials do not require the formation…
Detailed-balance limits for transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) solar cells have been reported, but existing TMD-specific limits do not simultaneously resolve thickness-dependent optics, carrier multiplication (CM), hot-carrier (HC)…
Small cell networks (SCNs) have attracted great attention in recent years due to their potential to meet the exponential growth of mobile data traffic and the increasing demand for better quality of service and user experience in mobile…
Light trapping in solar cells allows for increased current and voltage, as well as reduced materials cost. It is known that in geometrical optics, a maximum 4n^2 absorption enhancement factor can be achieved by randomly texturing the…
Solution-processed amorphous silicon is a promising material for semiconductor devices. Unfortunately, its manufacturing leaves a high density of defects in the layer, which can be reduced by a treatment with hydrogen radicals. Here, we…
In spite of having higher carrier mobilities and absorption coefficients of germanium (Ge) than those of silicon (Si), there has been less focus on Ge-based solar cells due to the low bandgap and high-cost of Ge wafer as well as requirement…
A design tool was formulated for optimizing the efficiency of inorganic, thin-film, photovoltaic solar cells. The solar cell can have multiple semiconductor layers in addition to antireflection coatings, passivation layers, and buffer…
A new thermodynamic limit for the open circuit voltage of solar cells that includes thermalization is obtained in terms of photon entropy. A simple graphical construction makes it possible to link this limit to the existing limits for…
Capacitance measurements as a function of voltage, frequency and temperature are useful tools to identify fundamental parameters that affect solar cell operation. Techniques such as capacitance-voltage (CV), Mott-Schottky analysis and…
Ideal absorption describes a particular means of optimizing light-matter interactions with a host of potential applications. This work presents new analytic formulas and describes semi-analytical methods for the design of electric or…
Improving the conversion efficiency of solar energy to electricity is most important to mankind. For single-junction photovoltaic solar-cells, the Shockley-Queisser thermodynamic efficiency limit is extensively due to the heat dissipation,…
Thermal radiation is the dominant heat loss mechanism for receiver units on a parabolic solar collector plant at high temperatures. Reduction of these losses is traditionally achieved through the use of an optically selective coating on the…
We calculate the maximal absorption enhancement obtainable by guided mode excitation in a weakly absorbing dielectric slab over wide wavelength ranges. The slab mimics thin film silicon solar cells in the low absorption regime. We consider…
The photovoltaic reciprocity theory relates the electroluminescence spectrum of a solar cell under applied bias to the external photovoltaic quantum efficiency of the device as measured at short circuit conditions. Its derivation is based…
Harnessing non-equilibrium hot carriers from plasmonic metal nanostructures constitutes a vibrant research field. It promises to enable control of activity and selectivity of photochemical reactions, especially for solar fuel generation.…
X-ray calorimetric sample platforms combining specific heat and synchrotron x-ray measurements provide a powerful means to investigate fundamental material properties. Calorimeter cell designs featuring a compact heater and thermometer…
Understanding and controlling properties of plasmon-induced hot carriers is a key step towards next-generation photovoltaic and photocatalytic devices. Here, we uncover a route to engineering hot-carrier generation rates of silver…
A high-performance p-type transparent conductor (TC) does not yet exist, but could lead to advances in a wide range of optoelectronic applications and enable new architectures for, e.g., next-generation photovoltaic (PV) devices.…