Related papers: Semiconductor solar superabsorber
A film-coupled metamaterial structure is numerically investigated for enhancing the light absorption in an ultrathin photovoltaic layer of crystalline gallium arsenide (GaAs). The top subwavelength concave grating and the bottom metallic…
In this paper, we calculate the material specific absorption accurately using a modal method by determining the integral of the Poynting vector around the boundary of a specific material. Given that the accuracy of our method is only…
We present a route to near-perfect absorption in compact photonic-crystal (PC) structures constructed from strongly absorbing media that are typically highly reflective in bulk form. Our analysis suggests that the key underlying mechanism…
Nano-scaled dielectric and metallic structures are popular light tapping structures in thin-film solar cells. However, a large parasitic absorption in those structures is unavoidable. Most schemes based on such structures also involve the…
Epitaxially-grown quantum well and quantum dot solar cells suffer from weak light absorption, strongly limiting their performance. Light trapping based on optical resonances is particularly relevant for such devices to increase light…
Reducing device volume is one of the key requirements for advanced nanophotonic technologies, however this demand is often at odds with designing highly absorbing elements which usually require sizeable thicknesses, such as for detector and…
The theoretical maximum efficiency of a solar cell is typically characterized by a detailed balance of optical absorption and emission for a semiconductor in the limit of unity radiative efficiency and an ideal step-function response for…
We experimentally demonstrate that the addition of partial lattice disorder to a thin-film micro-crystalline silicon photonic crystal results in the controlled spectral broadening of its absorption peaks to form quasi resonances; increasing…
We present an ultra broadband thin-film infrared absorber made of saw-toothed anisotropic metamaterial. Absorbtivity of higher than 95% at normal incidence is supported in a wide range of frequencies, where the full absorption width at half…
We propose a frequency selective light trapping scheme that enables the creation of more visually-transparent and yet simultaneously more efficient semitransparent solar cells. A nanoparticle scattering layer and photonic stack back…
Since thin-film silicon solar cells have limited optical absorption, we explore the effect of a nanostructured back reflector to recycle the unabsorbed light. As a back reflector we investigate a 3D photonic band gap crystal made from…
Panchromatic absorbing materials are widely regarded as a key strategy for enhancing solar energy utilization and photocurrent generation. However, in artificial molecular systems, broadening the absorption spectrum is often accompanied by…
Composite light-trapping structures offer a promising approach to achieving broadband absorption and high efficiency in thin-film solar cells (TFSCs) in order to accelerate sustainable energy solutions. As the leading material in thin-film…
Recently, significant progress in the development of III-V/Si dual-junction solar cells has been achieved. This not only boosts the efficiency of Si-based photovoltaic solar cells, but also offers the possibility of highly efficient green…
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…
We demonstrate a broadband, polarization independent, omnidirectional absorber based on a metallic metasurface architecture, which accomplishes greater than 90% absorptance in the visible and near-infrared range of the solar spectrum, and…
Photovoltaic materials are recognized for their potential as sustainable energy sources that enable the conversion between light and electrical energy. However, solar cells have been unable to surpass the theoretical limit of 32%, known as…
The maximal concentration limit of solar radiation for photovoltaic applications is assumed to be constant, at Cmax\approx46,000 suns. This limit is easily found via a geometrical application of the 2nd law of thermodynamics to a radiation…
We describe surface patterning strategies that permit high photon-collection efficiency together with high carrier-collection efficiency in an ultra-thin planar heterojunction organic photovoltaic cell. Optimized designs reach up to 50%…
Power-conversion efficiency is a critical factor for the wider adoption of solar-cell modules. Thin-film solar cells are cheap and easy to manufacture, but their efficiencies are low compared to crystalline-silicon solar cells and need to…