Abstract
The thermodynamic limit of the maximum energy conversion efficiency of an intermediate band solar cell has been calculated taking into account the effect of impact ionization. We developed the calculations of impact ionization effect on the efficiency of the single-gap solar cells to intermediate band quantum dot solar cells by introducing the parameter probability (P) that a charge carrier will impact ionize. The parameter θ gives a criterion for the solar cell material selection to increase the probability and effectivity of the impact ionization by considering the effect of carriers effective masses on the energy conversion efficiency. A thermodynamic efficiency of about 81.2% is obtained, which is higher than the maximal efficiency of 63.2% for an intermediate band solar cell without Auger or impact ionization mechanism. The optimum bandgap and sub-bandgap is shifted towards the Silicon bandgap. Therefore, impact ionization effect is more applicable for sub-bandgap and bandgap energies below about 1eV and for photons with appropriate kinetic energies.
Published Version
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