Open AccessMultiple quantum well top cells for multijunction concentrator solar cells
Author(s) -
Kan-Hua Lee,
Keith W. J. Barnham,
Benjamin C. Browne,
James P. Connolly,
Jessica G. J. Adams,
Rob J. Airey,
Nicholas J. Ekins-Daukes,
Markus Fuhrer,
Victoria Rees,
Mathew Lumb,
Alison L. Dobbin,
Massimo Mazzer,
John S. Roberts,
Thomas N. D. Tibbits
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
2011 37th ieee photovoltaic specialists conference
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Conference proceedings
pISSN - 0160-8371
ISBN - 978-1-4244-9965-6
DOI - 10.1109/pvsc.2011.6185857
Subject(s) - components, circuits, devices and systems , photonics and electrooptics , power, energy and industry applications , engineered materials, dielectrics and plasmas
High efficiency quantum well GaAs solar cells have been successfully applied in commercial multijunction concentrator cells to increase the absorption in the infrared and provide variability of the absorption edge to optimise energy harvesting. Multiple quantum well (MQW) top cells can further improve the performance of multijunction solar cells since the absorption edge of top and middle subcells can be tuned with the MQWs to maximize the efficiency. Also, our simulations show that photon coupling resulting from the radiative dominance of the MQW top cell can make the multijunction cell less sensitive to variations in the incoming spectrum, thus further improving energy harvesting. New results on the characterisation of a novel MQW top cell will be presented along with electro- and photo-luminescence studies relevant to the photonic coupling.
Accelerating Research
Robert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom
Address
John Eccles HouseRobert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom