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The Shockley-Queisser (SQ) limit, introduced by W. Shockley and H. J.Queisser in 1961, is the most well-established fundamental efficiency limit forsingle-junction photovoltaic solar cells. For widely-studied semiconductorssuch as Si, GaAs and lead-halide perovskite, the SQ limits under standard solarillumination (1-sun) are 32.7%, 32.5% and 31% for bandgaps of 1.12 eV, 1.43 eVand 1.55 eV, respectively. Here, we propose that the fundamental efficiencylimits for single-junction solar cells may be surpassed via photon confinement,substantially raising the theoretical limits to 49%, 45.2% and 42.1% for Si,GaAs and methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) perovskite cells under 1-sun. Suchenhancement is possible through the containment of luminescent photons withinthe solar cell, allowing the suppression of both non-radiative and radiativerecombination losses, which were considered inevitable in the classical SQmodel. Importantly, restricting photon emission from the solar cells raises theopen-circuit voltage (VOC) to values approaching the semiconductor bandgaps,surpassing the theoretical VOC values predicted by the SQ model. The fillfactors of the cells are expected to increase substantially, resulting incurrent-voltage characteristics with very-high squareness for ideal diodeoperation. Our work introduces a new framework for improving solar cellperformance beyond the conventional limits.

Photonically-confined solar cells: prospects for exceeding the Shockley-Queisser limit