Near infrared emission of TbAG:Ce{sup 3+},Yb{sup 3+} phosphor for solar cell applications
- Shri. Mathuradas Mohota College of Science, Sakkardara Square, Nagpur-440009 (India)
- Department of Electronics, Nagpur University campus, Nagpur-440010 (India)
- National power Training Institute, South ambazari road, Nagpur-440022 (India)
- Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management, Katol road, Gittikhadan Nagpur-440012 (India)
- Department of Physics, Nagpur University campus, Nagpur-440010 (India)
Luminescent materials doped with rare earth ions are used for many devices such as optical amplifiers in telecommunication, phosphors for white light emitting diodes (LEDs), displays, and so on. Recently, they also have attracted a great interest for photovoltaic applications to improve solar cell efficiency by modifying solar spectrum. Crystal silicon (c-Si) solar cells most effectively convert photons of energy close to the semiconductor band gap. The mis-match between the incident solar spectrum and the spectral response of solar cells is one of the main reasons to limit the cell efficiency. The efficiency limit of the c-Si has been estimated to be 29% by Shockley and Queisser. However, this limit is estimated to be improved up to 38.4% by modifying the solar spectrum by a quantum cutting (down converting) phosphor which converts one photon of high energy into two photons of lower energy. The phenomenon such as the quantum cutting or the down conversion of rare earth ions have been investigated since Dexter reported the possibility of a luminescent quantum yield greater than unity in 1957. In the past, the quantum cutting from a vacuum ultraviolet photon to visible photons for Pr{sup 3+}, Gd{sup 3+},Gd{sup 3+}–Eu{sup 3+}, and Er{sup 3+}–Tb{sup 3+} had been studied. Recently, a new quantum cutting phenomenon from visible photon shorter than 500 nm to two infrared photons for Tb{sup 3+}–Yb{sup 3+}, Pr{sup 3+}–Yb{sup 3+}, and Tm{sup 3+}–Yb{sup 3+} has been reported. The Yb{sup 3+} ion is suitable as an acceptor and emitter because luminescent quantum efficiency of Yb{sup 3+} is close to 100% and the energy of the only excited level of Yb{sup 3+} (1.2 eV) is roughly in accordance with the band gap of Si (1.1 eV). In addition, the Ce{sup 3+}-doped Tb{sub 3}Al{sub 5}O{sub 12} (TbAG), used as a phosphor for white LED, has broad absorption bands in the range of 300–500 nm due to strong ligand field and high luminescent quantum efficiency. Therefore, the Ce{sup 3+} ions in the TbAG can be suitable as an excellent sensitizing donor for down conversion materials of Si solar cells. In this paper, Ce{sup 3+} –Yb{sup 3+}-codoped TbAG ceramics were prepared and the energy transfer (ET) including down conversion mechanism in Ce{sup 3+} – Yb{sup 3+} codoped TbAG ceramics have been evaluated by the photoluminescence (PL), the photoluminescence excitation (PLE), the lifetime and the quantum yield (QY), which was measured directly using an integrating sphere.
- OSTI ID:
- 22591346
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1728, Issue 1; Conference: ICC 2015: International conference on condensed matter and applied physics, Bikaner (India), 30-31 Oct 2015; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ALUMINATES
CERAMICS
CERIUM IONS
CRYSTALS
DOPED MATERIALS
ENERGY GAP
EXCITED STATES
GADOLINIUM IONS
LIGHT EMITTING DIODES
PHOSPHORS
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE
PHOTOVOLTAIC EFFECT
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SILICON
SOLAR CELLS
TERBIUM COMPOUNDS
TERBIUM IONS
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
YTTERBIUM IONS