Abstract
A way to increase the photocurrent of top-cell is crucial for current-matched and highly-efficient GaInP/GaInAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells. Herein, we demonstrate that ellipsoidal silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) with better extinction performance and lower fabrication temperature can enhance the light harvest of GaInP/GaInAs/Ge solar cells compared with that of spherical Ag NPs. In this method, appropriate thermal treatment parameters for Ag NPs without inducing the dopant diffusion of the tunnel-junction plays a decisive role. Our experimental and theoretical results confirm the ellipsoidal Ag NPs annealed at 350 °C show a better extinction performance than the spherical Ag NPs annealed at 400 °C. The photovoltaic conversion efficiency of the device with ellipsoidal Ag NPs reaches 31.02%, with a nearly 5% relative improvement in comparison with the device without Ag NPs (29.54%). This function of plasmonic NPs has the potential to solve the conflict of sufficient light absorption and efficient carrier collection in GaInP top-cell devices.
Highlights
GaInP/GaInAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells (TJSCs) for space and terrestrial concentrator applications have attracted increasing attention for their very high conversion efficiencies [1,2,3] and dramatic reduction in cost [4]
The second problem relates to the lowest photocurrent of GaInP top-cells, which limits the efficiency of TJSCs greatly [9]
Ag films with 7 nm thickness were deposited on TJSCs at room temperature by magnetron sputtering, the detailed fabrication processes can on be referred to our previousbywork
Summary
GaInP/GaInAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells (TJSCs) for space and terrestrial concentrator applications have attracted increasing attention for their very high conversion efficiencies [1,2,3] and dramatic reduction in cost [4]. The present work was aimed at promoting the photocurrent of GaInP top-cell using plasmonic nanostructures and, the efficiency of TJSCs. In this work, Ag NPs were adopted because their extinction spectral range [26] is almost perfectly matched with the absorption range of the GaInP top-cell, and a series of experiments on annealing temperature, exposure time, and heating rate were proceeded to facilitate the light absorption of GaInP top-cell. The findings provide a feasible, cost-effective solution to solve the puzzle between the carrier collection and optical absorption in GaInP top-cells
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