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a Proposed triple junction tandem solar cell consists of a Si quantum dots superlattice inserted into a SiC, b Schematics of band structure, and c AM1.5D, AM0 and blackbody radiation spectra
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This study aims to design a novel triple-junction solar cell consisting a monolithically interconnected silicon (Si) bottom cell, quantum dots (QDs) based middle cell, and 3C-SiC top cell. The first set of efficiency limits is calculated based on the detailed balance principle. Maximum conversion efficiencies of 55, 52 and 51 % are obtained for 3...
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After being doped with zinc, CuInS2 quantum dots (QDs) exhibit desired tunable optical and electronic properties, more specifically, photoluminescence emission and band gap. The former is mainly due to the intrinsic donor–acceptor transition, which, together with the improved quantum yield and large longest decay time, accounts for 95% of the whole...
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... Due to the importance of solar energy as one kind of renewable energy, many studies have been performed to improve the efficiency of photovoltaics (PVs) [1]. PVs are used to directly convert optical energy to electricity through the absorption of incident light, which results in generation of electron-hole pairs [2]. ...
Light trapping as a result of embedding plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) into photovoltaics (PVs) has been recently used to achieve better optical performance compared to conventional PVs. This light trapping technique enhances the efficiency of PVs by confining incident light into hot-spot field regions around NPs, which have higher absorption, and thus more enhancement of the photocurrent. This research aims to study the impact of embedding metallic pyramidal-shaped NPs inside the PV’s active region to enhance the efficiency of plasmonic silicon PVs. The optical properties of pyramidal-shaped NPs in visible and near-infrared spectra have been investigated. The light absorption into silicon PV is significantly enhanced by embedding periodic arrays of pyramidal NPs in the cell compared to the case of bare silicon PV. Furthermore, the effects of varying the pyramidal-shaped NP dimensions on the absorption enhancement are studied. In addition, a sensitivity analysis has been performed, which helps in identifying the allowed fabrication tolerance for each geometrical dimension. The performance of the proposed pyramidal NP is compared with other frequently used shapes, such as cylinders, cones, and hemispheres. Poisson’s and Carrier’s continuity equations are formulated and solved for the current density–voltage characteristics associated with embedded pyramidal NPs with different dimensions. The optimized array of pyramidal NPs provides an enhancement of 41% in the generated current density when compared to the bare silicon cell.
... Due to the importance of solar energy as one kind of renewable energy, many studies have been performed to improve the efficiency of Photovoltaics (PVs) [1]. PVs are used to directly convert optical energy to electricity through the absorption of the incident light, which results in a generation of electron-hole pairs [2]. ...
Light trapping as a result of embedding plasmonic Nano-Particles (NPs) into Photovoltaics (PVs) has been recently used to achieve better optical performance compared to conventional PVs. This light trapping technique enhances the efficiency of PVs by confining the incident light into hot-spot field regions around the NPs, which possess higher absorption, thus more enhancing of photocurrent. This research aims to study the impact of embedding metallic pyramidal-shaped NPs inside the PV’s active region for enhancing the efficiency of plasmonic silicon PVs. The optical properties of the pyramidal-shaped NPs in the visible and near-infrared spectrum have been investigated.The light absorption into silicon PV is significantly enhanced by embedding periodic arrays of pyramidal NPs in the cell comparedto the case of bare silicon PV. Furthermore, the effects of varying the pyramidal-shaped NPs dimensions on the absorption enhancement are studied. In addition, a sensitivity analysis has been performed, which helps in identifying the allowed fabrication tolerance for each geometrical dimension. The performance ofthe proposed pyramidal NP is compared with other frequently used shapes, such as cylinder, cone and hemisphere. Poisson’s and Carrier’s continuity equations are formulated and solved for the current density-voltage characteristics associated with embedded pyramidal NPs with different dimensions. The optimized array of pyramidal NPs provides an enhancement of 41% in the generated current density if compared to the bare silicon cell.
... Quantum dots (QDs) have been widely studied in the design of different devices like solar cells, photodetectors, lasers, etc. Because of their excellent optical properties, they have become one of the fastest-growing areas of research in nanotechnology (Heidarzadeh et al. 2015(Heidarzadeh et al. , 2016Wang et al. 2020). The appropriate material design and selection is one of the important challenges in the field of photovoltaic technologies (Kim et al. 2018). ...
In this research work, hot carrier assisted intermediate band solar cells consisting of an absorber based on cylindrical silicon quantum dots (CQDs) with appropriate energy selective contacts (ESCs) are evaluated. Cylindrical shape nanoparticles benefit from two degrees of freedom (radius and height) to control their optical properties. First, the output performance parameters of a hot carrier solar cell with energy selective contacts based on quantum wells (QWs) and CQDs are compared. Then an array of CQDs is simulated and it is investigated that their optical properties can be tuned by controlling their heights, radii, and interdot spaces. A solar cell with ESCs based on CQDs results in better efficiency than a cell with ESCs based on QWs. An array of silicon CQDs inside a silicon carbide is analyzed and using the quantum confinement effect, an appropriate absorber was designed. The absorption coefficient for CQDs was calculated and the effect of their heights, radii, and inter dot spaces was analyzed. The key parameters are optimally designed which leads to obtaining a high absorption coefficient and consequently, the improvement of photocurrent of a hot carrier assisted intermediate band solar cell.
... Plasmonics absorbers with high absorption characteristics that can be efficiently harnessed by their geometries have thus been investigated for several years. Such plasmonics absorbers were first inspected in the terahertz range and are roughly classified into two configuration including metal-dielectric-metal and dielectric-metal-dielectric structure [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. A huge effort was done to generate electrical energy by using sunlight by using solar cells. ...
Solar plasmonics absorbers have received outstanding interest from nanotechnology. However, they have small efficiency. To overcome this challenge, we have used two ways in this proposed paper. In the first method, two types of nanoparticle including gold and silver are used on the superstate silica layer in the form of an insulating metal structure. Additionally, to analyze the structure, finite difference time domain (FDTD) is proposed. As a result, at all wavelengths, more than 50% of sunlight will be absorbed. On the other hand, by combining the light to the boundary between nanoparticles and insulation and applying optimization method in Lumerical software, surface plasmons will be stimulated and the possibility of modeling in nanodimensions is provided. It was clearly obvious that by increasing the diameter of the nanoparticles from 10 to 15 nm the amount of light absorption is increased, and by reaching the diameter nanoparticles to 20 nm, light absorption decreases. Regarding to the standard account (100 mW cm2, AM 1.5), maximum short-circuit current of 20 mA, open-circuit voltage of 0.65 V and filling coefficient 60 percent, the amount of light conversion will be 8.45%.
... Solar energy generally in two ways are used, i.e., either used directly for heating or cooling air and water without using an intermediate electric circuitry or to convert it into electrical energy by using photovoltaic (PV) modules (Zhou 2007). Direct conversion of solar radiation into electrical energy is the most convenient way of utilizing solar energy (Eskandari et al. 2021;Zardari and Rostami 2021;Heidarzadeh et al. 2016Heidarzadeh et al. , 2020, and it is popular in the industry. The advantages of using the photovoltaic effect to generate electricity include no production of pollutants during operation, silence, long lifetime, and low maintenance. ...
... The advantages of using the photovoltaic effect to generate electricity include no production of pollutants during operation, silence, long lifetime, and low maintenance. Moreover, solar energy is abundant, free, accessible, and inexhaustible (Zhou 2007;Eskandari et al. 2021;Zardari and Rostami 2021;Heidarzadeh et al. 2016Heidarzadeh et al. , 2020. A solar cell is an optoelectronic device that can directly convert solar energy into electrical energy (Foster et al. 2010) with an efficiency of around 20%. ...
The primary purpose of the paper is to reduce the impact of ambient temperature and internally generated heat on power conversion efficiency in solar cells. To this end, we design a simple layered structure using SiO2, Si3N4, and Si as an optical filter in front of the solar cell. To demonstrate the capability of the proposed structure, the Si and SiC Solar cells are considered and power conversion capabilities for these systems with and without the optical filter are evaluated. Finally, enhancement in power conversion efficiency and other characteristics of the proposed device is studied. It should mention that the Intermediate Band Solar Cells for this study are considered that be suitable cases in this field. In this case, to reduce the internally generated heat, we use a novel method for extracting the hot carrier from different energy levels by using multi-level Energy Selective Contacts. Such contacts promote Efficiency and break the Shockley–Queisser limit. Also, the proposed multilayer structure is used to reduce the effect of the ambient temperature. Using the proposed idea, it is shown that the power conversion efficiency is approximately constant for 300 to 800 °K.
... Photovoltaic technology has been developed to reduce the usage of fossil sources and providing safe renewable energy to meet the demands of humans. In photovoltaic technology, solar rays are converted to electricity by small cell plates of photovoltaic semiconductors, called solar cells [1] by using an active layer [2]. Typically, the photovoltaic cells are made of special materials, which we call semiconductors. ...
In this paper, the conformal arrangement of the nanoparticle as a plasmonic absorber for improving the bandwidth of the solar cell is studied. The Time Domain method of finite integration technique (FIT) is used for modeling the solar cell. The studies show that the conformal structure can be used for enhancing the bandwidth of the absorber up to 120% which is covering 300 to 2400 nm and the electric field enhanced more than 30%. The radius of the bent structure can impact absorption and bandwidth and the flexible conductive polymers can be used for making this structure practical with a refractive index of 2. Moreover, the elements' shape effect on the bandwidth, absorption level, and electrical field enhancement is considered and four various types of elements are checked. The cylindrical element shows the benefits more than other elements in bandwidth and energy harvesting which are known as two vital factors for designing a solar cell. In brief, the conformal structure can be used for manipulating electromagnetic based on Ferma's law for amending absorbers and solar cells. For this solar cell, the short circuit density (Jsc) is obtained 30 mA/cm² and Pmax is increased up to 35.5 mW/cm².
... The most photovoltaic markets are based on crystalline silicon (C-Si) solar cells [6,7]. There is some experimentally problems for third-generation solar cells based on silicon like silicon-based tandem solar cell [8][9][10], intermediate band solar cell [11][12][13][14][15], multiple exciton generations solar cell [16,17]. The thin film second-generation solar cells have been designed using low-cost materials such as amorphous silicon but their efficiency is low [18,19]. ...
The paper investigates the influence of various geometrical parameters (thickness of intrinsic a-Si, gap distance, n-type and p-type stripes) and the temperature on the performance of heterojunction interdigitated back contact (HJ-IBC) solar cell. There exists a strong correlation between the gap distance and the width of the n-type or p-type of the amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer as well as the thickness of the a-Si layer and the performance of the HJ-IBC silicon solar cells. It is shown that the defined reduction efficiency rate of an HJ-IBC silicon solar cell is lower than the reduction efficiency rate of conventional silicon solar, suggesting a better performance in the outdoor condition of the HJ-IBC solar cells. It is also argued that a temperature-dependent free HJ-IBC solar cell can be realized by tuning the intrinsic layer thickness. Furthermore, the comparison between top/rear contact HJ and HJ-IBC solar cell shows that HJ-IBC has the best performance in outdoor condition.
... From the other hand, increasing demand for high-temperature applications of solar cells gives the wide bandgap semiconductors a chance to enter in this field. Among the wide bandgap semiconductors, silicon carbide (SiC) is a good material for photovoltaic applications (Bauer et al. 2007;Miyajima et al. 2010;Heidarzadeh et al. 2014aHeidarzadeh et al. , 2016. The important unique properties of silicon carbide include a great energy bandgap, high thermal conductivity, and a high electric breakdown field (Bhatnagar and Baliga 1993;Theodorou et al. 1999;Neudeck et al. 1994). ...
In this research article, a 3C–SiC-based single-junction solar cell is evaluated using a two-dimensional finite element method. Effects of n + and p + thicknesses and operating temperature on the performance of n + pp + 3C–SiC solar cell are simulated to find its real efficiency. For a cell with a thickness of 5 µm, the efficiencies of 12.52%, 11.2%, 10.3%, and 8.8% are obtained for n + and p + thicknesses of 0.2 µm, 0.3 µm, 0.4 µm, and 0.5 µm, respectively. It is investigated that the conversion efficiency of a Si-based solar cell is very sensitive to temperature variation. It significantly decreases when the temperature increases while 3C–SiC benefits from the best thermal stability. The efficiency gradients of 0.015%/oK and 0.0087%/oK are obtained from numerical and limitation methods for the 3C–SiC-based solar cells, respectively. It is important to mention that this value is 0.0375%/oK for a single-junction silicon solar cell.
... One of the ways is to extend the absorption range of the device to the mid-infrared [1]. This can be achieved by insertion of quantum dots (QDs) into a host lattice, which introduces new energy states [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Using quantum dots to design an intermediate band solar cell (IBSC) is the relatively new and extremely promising approach [8][9][10]. ...
... They can be control by the size of quantum dots and their distance from each other. The inter-sub-band transitions are essential for low energy photon absorption and the inter-band Table 1 Barrier height and effective mass used for simulation [5,56]. ...
Thermalization loss is one of the major losses in the single junction solar cells. Here, 3C–SiC as a wide bandgap semiconductor is used to manage this loss. To prevent the transmission of low energy photons, the intermediate bands inside the forbidden band gap is used. To do this, silicon quantum dots inside silicon carbide is suggested. At first, the detailed balance calculations are carried out to determine the efficiency limits of a cell with one and two mini-bands. Optical simulation using 3D FEM solution of the Schrodinger equation is done to obtain mini-bands, wave functions, and hence the optical absorption coefficient. Dimension parameters of a QD array like radius, inter-dot spacing, and array size are optimized to obtain a maximum efficiency. Inter-band and inter-sub-band absorption coefficient are calculated. That applied to determine the optimum characteristic of a QD–based intermediate band solar cell. The photocurrent increases as the inter-dot spaces decrease. Suitable radiuses and inter-dot spaces are found to obtain a high absorption coefficient and hence higher photocurrent. Finally, the effect of non-radiative recombination on the device performances is simulated. These results provide significant information to design a three-dimensional QDs based intermediate band solar cells.
... So far, many studies have been conducted on solar energy. Solar cells are the only devices that can directly convert light into electricity [1][2][3][4][5]. The generation of electron-hole pairs and hence photocurrent in a semiconductor is directly related to absorption of the incident light [6][7][8]. ...
The demand for cheaper and more efficient solar cells is the main reason behind the ongoing research on ultra-thin solar cells. In this research work, the electric field generated by the surface plasmons effects has been used to design an ultra-thin silicon solar cell. The main idea of this work is the use of paired nanoparticles with both the same and different radiuses. At first, a cell with one nanoparticle in embedded and non-embedded forms is designed and photocurrents of 11.52 and 20.87 mA/cm2 are obtained, respectively. In the case of paired nanoparticles, the photocurrents of 11.9 and 21.68 mA/cm2 are obtained for embedded and non-embedded cases, respectively. These values are 11.89 and 21.84 mA/cm2 for paired nanoparticles with different radiuses. Our simulated results show that embedded nanoparticles significantly improve the photocurrent of an ultra-thin silicon solar cell. This approach and obtained results are applicable to various cell, thicknesses, and shapes of nanoparticles.
