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Title: Selection Metric for Photovoltaic Materials Screening Based on Detailed-Balance Analysis

Abstract

The success of recently discovered absorber materials for photovoltaic applications has been generating increasing interest in systematic materials screening over the last years. However, the key for a successful materials screening is a suitable selection metric that goes beyond the Shockley-Queisser theory that determines the thermodynamic efficiency limit of an absorber material solely by its band-gap energy. Here, we develop a selection metric to quantify the potential photovoltaic efficiency of a material. Our approach is compatible with detailed balance and applicable in computational and experimental materials screening. We use the complex refractive index to calculate radiative and nonradiative efficiency limits and the respective optimal thickness in the high mobility limit. We also compare our model to the widely applied selection metric by Yu and Zunger [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 068701 (2012)] with respect to their dependence on thickness, internal luminescence quantum efficiency, and refractive index. Finally, the model is applied to complex refractive indices calculated via electronic structure theory.

Authors:
 [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Julich Research Centre (Germany). IEK5-Photovaltaics
  2. Julich Research Centre (Germany). IEK5-Photovaltaics; Univ. of Duisburg (Germany). Faculty of Engineering, CENIDE
  3. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Next Generation of Materials by Design: Incorporating Metastability (CNGMD)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1394735
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1377989
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-70169
Journal ID: ISSN 2331-7019; PRAHB2
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Applied
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 8; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 2331-7019
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; optoelectronics; semiconductor physics

Citation Formats

Blank, Beatrix, Kirchartz, Thomas, Lany, Stephan, and Rau, Uwe. Selection Metric for Photovoltaic Materials Screening Based on Detailed-Balance Analysis. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevApplied.8.024032.
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Blank, Beatrix, Kirchartz, Thomas, Lany, Stephan, & Rau, Uwe. Selection Metric for Photovoltaic Materials Screening Based on Detailed-Balance Analysis. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.8.024032
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Blank, Beatrix, Kirchartz, Thomas, Lany, Stephan, and Rau, Uwe. Thu . "Selection Metric for Photovoltaic Materials Screening Based on Detailed-Balance Analysis". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.8.024032. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1394735.
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@article{osti_1394735,
title = {Selection Metric for Photovoltaic Materials Screening Based on Detailed-Balance Analysis},
author = {Blank, Beatrix and Kirchartz, Thomas and Lany, Stephan and Rau, Uwe},
abstractNote = {The success of recently discovered absorber materials for photovoltaic applications has been generating increasing interest in systematic materials screening over the last years. However, the key for a successful materials screening is a suitable selection metric that goes beyond the Shockley-Queisser theory that determines the thermodynamic efficiency limit of an absorber material solely by its band-gap energy. Here, we develop a selection metric to quantify the potential photovoltaic efficiency of a material. Our approach is compatible with detailed balance and applicable in computational and experimental materials screening. We use the complex refractive index to calculate radiative and nonradiative efficiency limits and the respective optimal thickness in the high mobility limit. We also compare our model to the widely applied selection metric by Yu and Zunger [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 068701 (2012)] with respect to their dependence on thickness, internal luminescence quantum efficiency, and refractive index. Finally, the model is applied to complex refractive indices calculated via electronic structure theory.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevApplied.8.024032},
journal = {Physical Review Applied},
number = 2,
volume = 8,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Aug 31 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Thu Aug 31 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.8.024032
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