Luminescent (Er,Ho)2O3 thin films by ALD to enhance the performance of silicon solar cells

Abstract

We have fabricated luminescent (Er,Ho)2O3 thin films by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and studied their capability to enhance the performance of state-of-the-art single-junction c-Si bifacial solar cells. The films convert IR photons (e.g. 1523 nm) by three- and two-photon upconversion process to emit visible-light in the 400–700 nm range. When the films were coupled with solar cells, ~3% improvement in the short-circuit current density (620 ± 5 to 638 ± 5 mAcm−2) was recorded under a simulated solar excitation equivalent to 16 suns. These findings highlight a potential of ALD for the design and fabrication of luminescent coatings for practical solar cell devices.