Related papers: Theoretical Efficiency Comparison between Carrier …
It is thought that nature already exploits quantum mechanical properties to increase the efficiency of solar energy harvesting devices. So, the operation of these devices can be enhanced by clever design of a nanoscopic, quantum mechanical…
Photon impingement is capable of liberating electrons in semiconductors. When the electron transport is primarily governed by temperature gradients, high irreversibilities will result, thus lowering converters' efficiencies. A fundamental…
Photovoltaic cells usually have two terminals, one collecting electrons and the other collecting holes. Can more terminals improve such solar cells? Energy-filtering terminals could collect "hot" carriers (electrons or holes not yet relaxed…
Carrier multiplication is a non-radiative recombination mechanism that leads to the generation of two or more electron-hole pairs after absorption of a single photon. By reducing the occurrence of dissipative effects, this process can be…
Solar energy is the most convenient and reliable energy source among all renewable energy resources and an efficient photovoltaic device is required to convert this energy into utilizable energy. Different types of solar cells (SC) are…
The multiplication rates of hot carriers in CdSe quantum dots are quantified using an atomistic pseudopotential approach and first order perturbation theory. Both excited holes and electrons are considered, and electron-hole Coulomb…
Multi-junction photovoltaics provide a logical method of increasing the utilization of solar power for a given area. However, their current design and fabrication methods invoke numerous material and cost complexities that limit their…
We analyze standard theoretical models of solar energy conversion developed to study solar cells and photosynthetic systems. We show that the assumption that the energy transfer to the reaction center/electric circuit is through a decay…
Although organic heterojunctions can separate charges with near-unity efficiency and on a sub-picosecond timescale, the full details of the charge-separation process remain unclear. In typical models, the Coulomb binding between the…
Significant progress has been made in the field of thermophotovoltaics, with efficiency recently rising to over 40% due to improvements in cell design and material quality, higher emitter temperatures, and better spectral management.…
Hot carrier solar cells allow potential efficiency close to the thermodynamical limit in ideal conditions. However, the feasability of such devices has not been clearly stated so far and only ideal cells were considered in previous studies.…
While silicon solar cells dominate global photovoltaic energy production, their continued improvement is hindered by the single junction limit. One potential solution is to use molecular singlet exciton fission to generate two electrons…
Elementary physics of photovoltaic energy conversion in a two-level atomic PV is considered. We explain the conditions for which the Carnot efficiency is reached and how it can be exceeded! The loss mechanisms - thermalization, angle…
The ideal solar cell conversion efficiency limit known as the Shockley-Queisser (SQ) limit, which is based on a detailed balance between absorption and radiation, has long been a target for solar cell researchers. While the theory for this…
A p-n junction maintained at above ambient temperature can work as a heat engine, converting some of the supplied heat into electricity and rejecting entropy by interband emission. Such thermoradiative cells have potential to harvest…
Photogalvanic solar cells, the original dye based solar cell, have yet to fulfill their promise as a low fabrication cost, scalable energy conversion system. The efficient performance of photogalvanic cells relies on high dye solubility and…
Ever science the invention of solar cells, thermodynamics has been used to assess their performance limits, guiding advances in materials science and photovoltaic technology to reduce the gap between the practical efficiencies and the…
We study how much the efficiency of a solar cell as a quantum heat engine could be enhanced by quantum coherence. In contrast to the conventional approach that a quantum heat engine is in thermal equilibrium with both hot and cold…
Single-junction photovoltaic cells are considered to be efficient solar energy converters, but even ideal cells cannot exceed the their fundamental thermodynamic efficiency limit, first analysed by Shockley and Queisser (SQ). For moderated…
Graphene as a zero-bandgap semiconductor is an ideal model structure to study the carrier relaxation channels, which are inefficient in conventional semiconductors. In particular, it is of fundamental interest to address the question…