Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Conference contribution/Paper › peer-review
Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Conference contribution/Paper › peer-review
}
TY - GEN
T1 - Enhancing light capture by silicon
T2 - with the help of molecules
AU - Alderman, Nick
AU - Danos, Lefteris
AU - Fang, Liping
AU - Parel, Thomas S.
AU - Markvart, Tomas
PY - 2014/6/8
Y1 - 2014/6/8
N2 - Efficient capture of sunlight remains one of the great challenges to photovoltaics today. This is particularly so for the dominant photovoltaic material - crystalline silicon - which, as an indirect gap semiconductor, needs several hundredmicrometers thickness for efficient operation. This paper gives an overview of the principal concepts that are currently being considered to enhance light capture by the solar cell. We shall, in particular, compare and contrast two main ideas of thought that underpin the current status of the field. The first, based onthermodynamics, makes use of light trapping where photon path within a structure is extended by virtue of a stochastic photon distribution inside a dielectric 1 weakly absorbing semiconductor. The second approach rests on the use of sub-wavelength or nanoscalestructures which allow the possibility of electromagnetic energy injection into very thin semiconductor layers, by direct interaction with the trapped modes or via the near field of an intermediate dipole absorber or scatterer. We review a range of techniques which are available to reducing the thickness of crystalline silicon solar cells to below l(m with the use of molecular layers deposited on thin crystalline silicon layers by spin coating, as Langmuir-Blodgett films, or directly anchored to silicon by covalent bonding.
AB - Efficient capture of sunlight remains one of the great challenges to photovoltaics today. This is particularly so for the dominant photovoltaic material - crystalline silicon - which, as an indirect gap semiconductor, needs several hundredmicrometers thickness for efficient operation. This paper gives an overview of the principal concepts that are currently being considered to enhance light capture by the solar cell. We shall, in particular, compare and contrast two main ideas of thought that underpin the current status of the field. The first, based onthermodynamics, makes use of light trapping where photon path within a structure is extended by virtue of a stochastic photon distribution inside a dielectric 1 weakly absorbing semiconductor. The second approach rests on the use of sub-wavelength or nanoscalestructures which allow the possibility of electromagnetic energy injection into very thin semiconductor layers, by direct interaction with the trapped modes or via the near field of an intermediate dipole absorber or scatterer. We review a range of techniques which are available to reducing the thickness of crystalline silicon solar cells to below l(m with the use of molecular layers deposited on thin crystalline silicon layers by spin coating, as Langmuir-Blodgett films, or directly anchored to silicon by covalent bonding.
U2 - 10.1109/PVSC.2014.6924987
DO - 10.1109/PVSC.2014.6924987
M3 - Conference contribution/Paper
SP - 17
EP - 21
BT - Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 2014 IEEE 40th
PB - IEEE
CY - Denver, CO, USA
ER -