Quantum Dot Solar Cells | F. Elsehrawy | PitchD 18
Channel: IEEE PoliTO Student Branch
Date: 2020-05-12

PitchD – the PhD’s pitch: our PhD IEEE Student Members explain to students, collegues and professors their research.

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Light-trapping enhanced thin-film III-V quantum dot solar cells

Mr. Farid Elsehrawy, Dept. of Electronics and Telecommunications (DET), Politecnico di Torino

The demand for a source of renewable energy has been the driving force to achieve significant advancements in the field of photovoltaic energy generation during the past decades. III-V quantum dot (QD) solar cells hold promising potential for the realization of multiple novel photovoltaic concepts. However, one of their essential limitations arises from the weak absorption coefficient of the QD layers as well as the difficulty to grow active regions with high in-plane QD density and to stack many QD layers. Light trapping allows overcoming limitations faced by QD solar cells and Intermediate Band (IB) solar cells that generally suffer from weak QD interband and intraband photo-generation. It can be used to increase the effective optical path length of the QD layers, thereby resulting in higher photogeneration and overall efficiency. Moreover, light trapping concepts allow the use of a thin active region while maintaining constant short-circuit current, thereby minimizing volume recombination losses and enabling a higher open circuit voltage. Thin-film solar cells are associated with a high power-to-weight ratio, an essential requirement in space applications.