Up- and down-conversion materials for photovoltaic devices

Bryce S. Richards; Aruna Ivaturi; Sean K. W. MacDougall; Jose Marques-Hueso

doi:10.1117/12.923298

24 April 2012 Up- and down-conversion materials for photovoltaic devices

Bryce S. Richards, Aruna Ivaturi, Sean K. W. MacDougall, Jose Marques-Hueso

Proceedings Volume 8438, Photonics for Solar Energy Systems IV; 843802 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.923298
Event: SPIE Photonics Europe, 2012, Brussels, Belgium

Abstract

Up-conversion (UC) and down-conversion (DC) of sunlight are two possible routes for improving energy harvesting over the whole solar spectrum. Via such processes it could be possible to exceed the Shockley-Queisser limit for a single-junction photovoltaic (PV) device. The effect of adding DC and UC layers to the front and rear of a solar cell, respectively, is to modify the incident solar spectrum. One of the materials more extensively studied for these propose have been the lanthanides or rare-earth systems, due to the suitability of their discrete energy levels for photon conversion inside a wide variety of host materials. While high quantum yields of 200% have been demonstrated with DC materials, there remain several barriers to realising such a layer that is applicable to a solar cell. These are, firstly, weak absorption of the lanthanide ions and, secondly, the competing loss mechanism of non-radiative recombination. For UC, these two barriers still exist, however an additional challenge is the non-linear nature of the UC process, thus favouring operation under concentrated sunlight. In this paper, we review the application of UC and DC to PV, discussing the material systems used and optical characterisation.

Citation Download Citation

Bryce S. Richards, Aruna Ivaturi, Sean K. W. MacDougall, and Jose Marques-Hueso "Up- and down-conversion materials for photovoltaic devices", Proc. SPIE 8438, Photonics for Solar Energy Systems IV, 843802 (24 April 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.923298

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available