Theoretical performance of solar cell based on mini-bands quantum dots

Journal Article · Fri Mar 21 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4868982· OSTI ID:22271205

Aly, Abou El-Maaty M., E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail] ^[1]; College of Computer, Qassim University, P.O.B. 6688, Buryadah 51453 ^[2]; Nasr, A., E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail] ^[3]; College of Computer, Qassim University, P.O.B. 6688, Buryadah 51453 ^[2]

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1. Power Electronics and Energy Conversion Department, ERI, NRCB (Egypt)
2. (Saudi Arabia)
3. Radiation Engineering Department, NCRRT, Atomic Energy Authority (Egypt)

The tremendous amount of research in solar energy is directed toward intermediate band solar cell for its advantages compared with the conventional solar cell. The latter has lower efficiency because the photons have lower energy than the bandgap energy and cannot excite mobile carriers from the valence band to the conduction band. On the other hand, if mini intermediate band is introduced between the valence and conduction bands, then the smaller energy photons can be used to promote charge carriers transfer to the conduction band and thereby the total current increases while maintaining a large open circuit voltage. In this article, the influence of the new band on the power conversion efficiency for structure of quantum dots intermediate band solar cell is theoretically investigated and studied. The time-independent Schrödinger equation is used to determine the optimum width and location of the intermediate band. Accordingly, achievement of a maximum efficiency by changing the width of quantum dots and barrier distances is studied. Theoretical determination of the power conversion efficiency under the two different ranges of QD width is presented. From the obtained results, the maximum power conversion efficiency is about 70.42%. It is carried out for simple cubic quantum dot crystal under fully concentrated light. It is strongly dependent on the width of quantum dots and barrier distances.

• OSTI ID: 22271205
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 115, Issue 11; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
CHARGE CARRIERS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CRYSTALS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
ENERGY CONVERSION
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
ENERGY GAP
PHOTONS
QUANTUM DOTS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR ENERGY
VALENCE