Strain-balanced type-II superlattices for efficient multi-junction solar cells

Abstract Multi-junction solar cells made by assembling semiconductor materials with different bandgap energies have hold the record conversion efficiencies for many years and are currently approaching 50%. Theoretical efficiency limits make use of optimum designs with the right lattice constant-band...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	A. Gonzalo, A. D. Utrilla, D. F. Reyes, V. Braza, J. M. Llorens, D. Fuertes Marrón, B. Alén, T. Ben, D. González, A. Guzman, A. Hierro, J. M. Ulloa
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/09f463f279f448e0ad1876b45c4ffb08
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:09f463f279f448e0ad1876b45c4ffb08
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:09f463f279f448e0ad1876b45c4ffb082021-12-02T12:30:26ZStrain-balanced type-II superlattices for efficient multi-junction solar cells10.1038/s41598-017-04321-42045-2322https://doaj.org/article/09f463f279f448e0ad1876b45c4ffb082017-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-04321-4https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Multi-junction solar cells made by assembling semiconductor materials with different bandgap energies have hold the record conversion efficiencies for many years and are currently approaching 50%. Theoretical efficiency limits make use of optimum designs with the right lattice constant-bandgap energy combination, which requires a 1.0–1.15 eV material lattice-matched to GaAs/Ge. Nevertheless, the lack of suitable semiconductor materials is hindering the achievement of the predicted efficiencies, since the only candidates were up to now complex quaternary and quinary alloys with inherent epitaxial growth problems that degrade carrier dynamics. Here we show how the use of strain-balanced GaAsSb/GaAsN superlattices might solve this problem. We demonstrate that the spatial separation of Sb and N atoms avoids the ubiquitous growth problems and improves crystal quality. Moreover, these new structures allow for additional control of the effective bandgap through the period thickness and provide a type-II band alignment with long carrier lifetimes. All this leads to a strong enhancement of the external quantum efficiency under photovoltaic conditions with respect to bulk layers of equivalent thickness. Our results show that GaAsSb/GaAsN superlattices with short periods are the ideal (pseudo)material to be integrated in new GaAs/Ge-based multi-junction solar cells that could approach the theoretical efficiency limit.A. GonzaloA. D. UtrillaD. F. ReyesV. BrazaJ. M. LlorensD. Fuertes MarrónB. AlénT. BenD. GonzálezA. GuzmanA. HierroJ. M. UlloaNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q A. Gonzalo A. D. Utrilla D. F. Reyes V. Braza J. M. Llorens D. Fuertes Marrón B. Alén T. Ben D. González A. Guzman A. Hierro J. M. Ulloa Strain-balanced type-II superlattices for efficient multi-junction solar cells
description	Abstract Multi-junction solar cells made by assembling semiconductor materials with different bandgap energies have hold the record conversion efficiencies for many years and are currently approaching 50%. Theoretical efficiency limits make use of optimum designs with the right lattice constant-bandgap energy combination, which requires a 1.0–1.15 eV material lattice-matched to GaAs/Ge. Nevertheless, the lack of suitable semiconductor materials is hindering the achievement of the predicted efficiencies, since the only candidates were up to now complex quaternary and quinary alloys with inherent epitaxial growth problems that degrade carrier dynamics. Here we show how the use of strain-balanced GaAsSb/GaAsN superlattices might solve this problem. We demonstrate that the spatial separation of Sb and N atoms avoids the ubiquitous growth problems and improves crystal quality. Moreover, these new structures allow for additional control of the effective bandgap through the period thickness and provide a type-II band alignment with long carrier lifetimes. All this leads to a strong enhancement of the external quantum efficiency under photovoltaic conditions with respect to bulk layers of equivalent thickness. Our results show that GaAsSb/GaAsN superlattices with short periods are the ideal (pseudo)material to be integrated in new GaAs/Ge-based multi-junction solar cells that could approach the theoretical efficiency limit.
format	article
author	A. Gonzalo A. D. Utrilla D. F. Reyes V. Braza J. M. Llorens D. Fuertes Marrón B. Alén T. Ben D. González A. Guzman A. Hierro J. M. Ulloa
author_facet	A. Gonzalo A. D. Utrilla D. F. Reyes V. Braza J. M. Llorens D. Fuertes Marrón B. Alén T. Ben D. González A. Guzman A. Hierro J. M. Ulloa
author_sort	A. Gonzalo
title	Strain-balanced type-II superlattices for efficient multi-junction solar cells
title_short	Strain-balanced type-II superlattices for efficient multi-junction solar cells
title_full	Strain-balanced type-II superlattices for efficient multi-junction solar cells
title_fullStr	Strain-balanced type-II superlattices for efficient multi-junction solar cells
title_full_unstemmed	Strain-balanced type-II superlattices for efficient multi-junction solar cells
title_sort	strain-balanced type-ii superlattices for efficient multi-junction solar cells
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/09f463f279f448e0ad1876b45c4ffb08
work_keys_str_mv	AT agonzalo strainbalancedtypeiisuperlatticesforefficientmultijunctionsolarcells AT adutrilla strainbalancedtypeiisuperlatticesforefficientmultijunctionsolarcells AT dfreyes strainbalancedtypeiisuperlatticesforefficientmultijunctionsolarcells AT vbraza strainbalancedtypeiisuperlatticesforefficientmultijunctionsolarcells AT jmllorens strainbalancedtypeiisuperlatticesforefficientmultijunctionsolarcells AT dfuertesmarron strainbalancedtypeiisuperlatticesforefficientmultijunctionsolarcells AT balen strainbalancedtypeiisuperlatticesforefficientmultijunctionsolarcells AT tben strainbalancedtypeiisuperlatticesforefficientmultijunctionsolarcells AT dgonzalez strainbalancedtypeiisuperlatticesforefficientmultijunctionsolarcells AT aguzman strainbalancedtypeiisuperlatticesforefficientmultijunctionsolarcells AT ahierro strainbalancedtypeiisuperlatticesforefficientmultijunctionsolarcells AT jmulloa strainbalancedtypeiisuperlatticesforefficientmultijunctionsolarcells
_version_	1718394377831710720

Strain-balanced type-II superlattices for efficient multi-junction solar cells

Ejemplares similares