A Silicon Ratchet to Produce Power from Below-Bandgap Photons

Lau, Bryan; Kedem, Ofer; Kodaimati, Mohamad; Ratner, Mark A.; Weiss, Emily A.

doi:10.1002/aenm.201701000

Title: A Silicon Ratchet to Produce Power from Below-Bandgap Photons

Journal Article · Tue Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Advanced Energy Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201701000· OSTI ID:1469980

Lau, Bryan ^[1]; Kedem, Ofer ^[1]; Kodaimati, Mohamad ^[1]; Ratner, Mark A. ^[1];

^[1]

Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)

Abstract This paper computationally demonstrates a new photovoltaic mechanism that generates power from incoherent, below‐bandgap (THz) excitations of conduction band electrons in silicon. A periodic sawtooth potential, realized through elastic strain gradients along a 100 nm thick Si slab, biases the oscillatory motion of excited electrons, which preferentially jump and relax into the adjacent period on the right to generate a net current. The magnitude of the ratchet current increases with photon energy (20, 50, and 100 meV) and irradiance (≈MW cm ⁻² ), which control the probability of photon scattering, and peaks as a function of the well depth of the ratchet potential, and the dominant mode of energy loss (the 62 meV intervalley phonon). The internal power conversion efficiency of the ratchet has a maximum of 0.0083% at a photon energy of 100 meV, due to inefficiencies caused by isotropic scattering. This new photovoltaic mechanism uses wasted below‐bandgap absorptions to enhance the directional diffusion of charge carriers and could be used to augment the efficiency of traditional photovoltaics.

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Research Organization:: Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States). Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) Center for Bio-Inspired Energy Science (CBES)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0000989

OSTI ID:: 1469980

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1375821

Journal Information:: Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 7, Issue 22; Related Information: CBES partners with Northwestern University (lead); Harvard University; New York University; Pennsylvania State University; University of Michigan; University of Pittsburgh; ISSN 1614-6832

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 6 works

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Title: A Silicon Ratchet to Produce Power from Below-Bandgap Photons

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