Two-step photon up-conversion solar cells

Shigeo Asahi (), Haruyuki Teranishi, Kazuki Kusaki, Toshiyuki Kaizu and Takashi Kita
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Shigeo Asahi: Graduate School of Engineering
Haruyuki Teranishi: Graduate School of Engineering
Kazuki Kusaki: Graduate School of Engineering
Toshiyuki Kaizu: Graduate School of Engineering
Takashi Kita: Graduate School of Engineering

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Reducing the transmission loss for below-gap photons is a straightforward way to break the limit of the energy-conversion efficiency of solar cells (SCs). The up-conversion of below-gap photons is very promising for generating additional photocurrent. Here we propose a two-step photon up-conversion SC with a hetero-interface comprising different bandgaps of Al0.3Ga0.7As and GaAs. The below-gap photons for Al0.3Ga0.7As excite GaAs and generate electrons at the hetero-interface. The accumulated electrons at the hetero-interface are pumped upwards into the Al0.3Ga0.7As barrier by below-gap photons for GaAs. Efficient two-step photon up-conversion is achieved by introducing InAs quantum dots at the hetero-interface. We observe not only a dramatic increase in the additional photocurrent, which exceeds the reported values by approximately two orders of magnitude, but also an increase in the photovoltage. These results suggest that the two-step photon up-conversion SC has a high potential for implementation in the next-generation high-efficiency SCs.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14962

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