Quantitative experimental assessment of hot carrier-enhanced solar cells at room temperature

Dac-Trung Nguyen, Laurent Lombez (), François Gibelli, Soline Boyer-Richard, Alain Le Corre, Olivier Durand and Jean-François Guillemoles
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Dac-Trung Nguyen: Institut Photovoltaique d’Ile de France (IPVF)
Laurent Lombez: Institut Photovoltaique d’Ile de France (IPVF)
François Gibelli: Institut Photovoltaique d’Ile de France (IPVF)
Soline Boyer-Richard: Univ Rennes, INSA Rennes, CNRS, Institut FOTON – UMR 6082
Alain Le Corre: Univ Rennes, INSA Rennes, CNRS, Institut FOTON – UMR 6082
Olivier Durand: Univ Rennes, INSA Rennes, CNRS, Institut FOTON – UMR 6082
Jean-François Guillemoles: Institut Photovoltaique d’Ile de France (IPVF)

Nature Energy, 2018, vol. 3, issue 3, 236-242

Abstract: Abstract In common photovoltaic devices, the part of the incident energy above the absorption threshold quickly ends up as heat, which limits their maximum achievable efficiency to far below the thermodynamic limit for solar energy conversion. Conversely, the conversion of the excess kinetic energy of the photogenerated carriers into additional free energy would be sufficient to approach the thermodynamic limit. This is the principle of hot carrier devices. Unfortunately, such device operation in conditions relevant for utilization has never been evidenced. Here, we show that the quantitative thermodynamic study of the hot carrier population, with luminance measurements, allows us to discuss the hot carrier contribution to the solar cell performance. We demonstrate that the voltage and current can be enhanced in a semiconductor heterostructure due to the presence of the hot carrier population in a single InGaAsP quantum well at room temperature. These experimental results substantiate the potential of increasing photovoltaic performances in the hot carrier regime.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41560-018-0106-3

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