Forty three per cent composite split-spectrum concentrator solar cell efficiency

Martin A. Green, Anita Ho-Baillie

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

85 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

One way of improving the efficiency of solar cells is to subdivide the broad solar spectrum into smaller energy ranges and to convert each range with a cell of appropriately matched bandgap. The most common approach to implementing this idea has been to use a monolithic or mechanical stack of cells arranged in order of increasing bandgap, with the highest bandgap cell uppermost. This provides automatic filtering of incident sunlight so that each cell absorbs and converts the optimal spectral range. The potential of an earlier experimental approach based on steering light in different wavelength bands to non-stacked cells recently has been re-explored with good results. The present work extends this previous work by putting measurements on a more rigorous basis and by improving the 'composite' experimental efficiency of selected cells to beyond 43%, the highest reported to date for any combination of photovoltaic devices.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)42-47
Number of pages6
JournalProgress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications
Volume18
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2010
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • high efficiency
  • concentrator cells

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