journal article·2023-07-14Open access

Below the Urbach Edge: Solar Cell Loss Analysis Based on Full External Quantum Efficiency Spectra

Jakub Holovský, Katarína Ridzoňová, Amalraj Peter Amalathas, Brianna Conrad, Rupendra Kumar Sharma, Xin Yu Chin, Ebin Bastola, Khagendra Bhandari, Randy J. Ellingson, Stefaan De Wolf

ACS Energy Letters· Volume 8· Issue 7

Abstract

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide We suggest a new solar cell loss analysis using the external quantum efficiency (EQE) measured with sufficiently high sensitivity to also account for defects. Unlike common radiative-limit methods, where the impact of deep defects is ignored by exponential extrapolation of the Urbach absorption edge, our loss analysis considers the full EQE including states below the Urbach edge and uses corrections for band-filling and light-trapping. We validate this new metric on a whole range of photovoltaic materials and verify its accuracy by electrical simulations. Any deviations between the new metric and experimental open-circuit voltage are due to the presence of spatially localized defects and are explained as violations of the assumption of flat quasi-Fermi levels through the device.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Silicon and Solar Cell Technologies · Chalcogenide Semiconductor Thin Films · solar cell performance optimization

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague 166 27, Czechia

Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague 162 00, Czechia

Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague 121 16, Czechia

Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Jaffna, Jaffna 40000, Sri Lanka

Institute of Microengineering (IMT), Photovoltaic and Thin-Film Electronics Laboratory, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Neuchâtel 2002, Switzerland

Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio 43606, United States

KAUST Solar Center (KSC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia

Funding

Air Force Research Laboratory · Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Telovýchovy · Grantová Agentura Ceské Republiky

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