Approaching the Shockley-Queisser limit: General assessment of the main limiting mechanisms in photovoltaic cells

Alexis Vossier 1 Federico Gualdi 1 Alain Dollet 1 Richard Ares 2 Vincent Aimez 2
1 PROMES - Procédés, Matériaux et Energie Solaire
2 3IT - Institut Interdisciplinaire d'Innovation Technologique
Abstract : In principle, the upper efficiency limit of any solar cell technology can be determined using the detailed-balance limit formalism. However, “real” solar cells show efficiencies which are always below this theoretical value due to several limiting mechanisms. We study the ability of a solar cell architecture to approach its own theoretical limit, using a novel index introduced in this work, and the amplitude with which the different limiting mechanisms affect the cell efficiency is scrutinized as a function of the electronic gap and the illumination level to which the cell is submitted. The implications for future generations of solar cells aiming at an improved conversion of the solar spectrum are also addressed.
Document type :
Journal articles
Complete list of metadatas
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01176339
Contributor : Olivier Savoyat <>
Submitted on : Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - 11:49:08 AM
Last modification on : Tuesday, September 17, 2019 - 11:02:05 AM

Identifiers

Collections

UNIV-PERP | CNRS | PROMES

Citation

Alexis Vossier, Federico Gualdi, Alain Dollet, Richard Ares, Vincent Aimez. Approaching the Shockley-Queisser limit: General assessment of the main limiting mechanisms in photovoltaic cells. Journal of Applied Physics, American Institute of Physics, 2015, 117 (1), ⟨10.1063/1.4905277⟩. ⟨hal-01176339⟩

Export

BibTeX TEI DC DCterms EndNote

Share

Metrics

Record views

170

Contact

CCSD