Thermal influence on charge carrier transport in solar cells based on GaAs PN junctions

Abstract

The electron and hole one-dimensional transport in a solar cell based on a Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) PN junction and its dependency with electron and lattice temperatures are studied here. Electrons and heat transport are treated on an equal footing, and a cell operating at high temperatures using concentrators is considered. The equations of a two-temperature hydrodynamic model are written in terms of asymptotic expansions for the dependent variables with the electron Reynolds number as a perturbation parameter. The dependency of the electron and hole densities through the junction with the temperature is analyzed solving the steady-state model at low Reynolds numbers. Lattice temperature distribution throughout the device is obtained considering the change of kinetic energy of electrons due to interactions with the lattice and heat absorbed from sunlight. In terms of performance, higher values of power output are obtained with low lattice temperature and hot energy carriers. This modeling contributes to improve the design of heat exchange devices and thermal management strategies in photovoltaic technologies.