An electronic ratchet is required in nanostructured intermediate band solar cells

Amaury Delamarre (1) , Daniel Suchet (2) , Nicolas Cavassilas (3) , Yoshitaka Okada (4) , Masakazu Sugiyama (1) , Jean-Francois Guillemoles (1)

1 IRDEP - Institut de Recherche et Développement sur l'Energie Photovoltaïque
2 UTokyo - The University of Tokyo
3 IM2NP - Institut des Matériaux, de Microélectronique et des Nanosciences de Provence
4 RCAST - Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology [Tokyo]

We investigate in this letter the intrinsic properties that have limited the efficiency of nanostructured intermediate band solar cells. Those devices take advantage of intra-band transitions, which occur on narrow energy width, and present low radiative recombination efficiency. We derive the minimum requirements in terms of those two characteristics to achieve efficiencies in excess of the Shockley-Queisser limit, and show that compatible nanostructures are challenging to obtain. Especially, we evidence that currently experimentally considered materials cannot overcome the best single junction cells. In order to solve those issues, we consider devices including an electronic ratchet mechanism. Firstly, such devices are shown to be much less sensitive on the limitations of the nanostructures characteristics, so that requirements for high efficiencies can be met. Secondly, we show that quantum well devices present advantages over their quantum dots counterparts, although they have attracted much less interest so far.

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Energie électrique

Amaury Delamarre, Daniel Suchet, Nicolas Cavassilas, Yoshitaka Okada, Masakazu Sugiyama, et al.. An electronic ratchet is required in nanostructured intermediate band solar cells. 2019. ⟨hal-01972798⟩