Hybrid dielectric light trapping designs for thin-film CdZnTe/Si tandem cells

Chung, H.; Zhou, C.; Tee, X. T.; Jung, K. -Y.; Bermel, P.

doi:10.1364/OE.24.0A1008

Title: Hybrid dielectric light trapping designs for thin-film CdZnTe/Si tandem cells

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Abstract

Tandem solar cells consisting of high bandgap cadmium telluride alloys atop crystalline silicon have potential for high efficiencies exceeding the Shockley-Queisser limit. However, experimental results have fallen well below this goal significantly because of non-ideal current matching and light trapping. In this work, we simulate cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) and crystalline silicon (c-Si) tandems as an exemplary system to show the role that a hybrid light trapping and bandgap engineering approach can play in improving performance and lowering materials costs for tandem solar cells incorporating crystalline silicon. This work consists of two steps. First, we optimize absorption in the crystalline silicon layer with front pyramidal texturing and asymmetric dielectric back gratings, which results in 121% absorption enhancement from a planar structure. Then, using this pre-optimized light trapping scheme, we model the dispersion of the Cd_xZn_1-xTe alloys, and then adjust the bandgap to realize the best current matching for a range of CZT thicknesses. Using experimental parameters, the corresponding maximum efficiency is predicted to be 16.08 % for a total tandem cell thickness of only 2.2 μm.

Authors:

Chung, H. ^[1]; Zhou, C. ^[1]; Tee, X. T. ^[1]; Jung, K. -Y. ^[2]; Bermel, P. ^[1]

Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). School of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Hanyang Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of). Dept. of Electronic Engineering

Publication Date:: Fri May 20 00:00:00 EDT 2016

Research Org.:: Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States); Hanyang Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)

OSTI Identifier:: 1437640

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0004946; 2014R1A1A205440

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Optics Express

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 24; Journal Issue: 14; Journal ID: ISSN 1094-4087

Publisher:: Optical Society of America (OSA)

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 14 SOLAR ENERGY; refractive index; resonant modes; semiconductors; solar energy; surface plasmon polaritons; tandem solar cells

Citation Formats


                    Chung, H., Zhou, C., Tee, X. T., Jung, K. -Y., and Bermel, P. Hybrid dielectric light trapping designs for thin-film CdZnTe/Si tandem cells.  United States: N. p., 2016. 
Web.  doi:10.1364/OE.24.0A1008.

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                    Chung, H., Zhou, C., Tee, X. T., Jung, K. -Y., & Bermel, P. Hybrid dielectric light trapping designs for thin-film CdZnTe/Si tandem cells.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.24.0A1008

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                    Chung, H., Zhou, C., Tee, X. T., Jung, K. -Y., and Bermel, P. Fri .  
"Hybrid dielectric light trapping designs for thin-film CdZnTe/Si tandem cells".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.24.0A1008.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1437640.

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@article{osti_1437640,

  title        = {Hybrid dielectric light trapping designs for thin-film CdZnTe/Si tandem cells},

  author       = {Chung, H. and Zhou, C. and Tee, X. T. and Jung, K. -Y. and Bermel, P.},

  abstractNote = {Tandem solar cells consisting of high bandgap cadmium telluride alloys atop crystalline silicon have potential for high efficiencies exceeding the Shockley-Queisser limit. However, experimental results have fallen well below this goal significantly because of non-ideal current matching and light trapping. In this work, we simulate cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) and crystalline silicon (c-Si) tandems as an exemplary system to show the role that a hybrid light trapping and bandgap engineering approach can play in improving performance and lowering materials costs for tandem solar cells incorporating crystalline silicon. This work consists of two steps. First, we optimize absorption in the crystalline silicon layer with front pyramidal texturing and asymmetric dielectric back gratings, which results in 121% absorption enhancement from a planar structure. Then, using this pre-optimized light trapping scheme, we model the dispersion of the CdxZn1-xTe alloys, and then adjust the bandgap to realize the best current matching for a range of CZT thicknesses. Using experimental parameters, the corresponding maximum efficiency is predicted to be 16.08 % for a total tandem cell thickness of only 2.2 μm.},

  doi          = {10.1364/OE.24.0A1008},

  journal      = {Optics Express},

  number       = 14,

  volume       = 24,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Fri May 20 00:00:00 EDT 2016},

  month        = {Fri May 20 00:00:00 EDT 2016}

}

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