Dispersive elements for spectrum splitting in solar cell applications

A. Bielawny; P.-T. Miclea; A. v. Rhein; R. B. Wehrspohn; S. van Riesen; S. Glunz

doi:10.1117/12.662567

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12 May 2006 Dispersive elements for spectrum splitting in solar cell applications

A. Bielawny, P.-T. Miclea, A. v. Rhein, R. B. Wehrspohn, S. van Riesen, S. Glunz

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Proceedings Volume 6197, Photonics for Solar Energy Systems; 619704 (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.662567
Event: SPIE Photonics Europe, 2006, Strasbourg, France

Abstract

Photovoltaic tandem and triple solar cells are currently being developed and produced with reasonable efficiencies at high technological cost. The concept of spectrum splitting has been proposed with the advantage of compatibility to all types of cells. Although additional optical efforts are to be made, external photon management can be achieved to match different solar cell combinations no matter which band gaps involved or how the cells are connected. We present an experimental study comparing optical devices based on either interference or diffraction for tandem and triple cell configurations. Whereas diffractive media such as gratings suffer intrinsically from higher order diffraction losses, devices based on interference such as Bragg filter can yield a significant efficiency increase. For a triple cell configuration consisting of GaInP/GaInAs/GaSb, a net efficiency gain of more than 30% is shown in a solar cell simulator compared to the best cell in direct light.

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A. Bielawny, P.-T. Miclea, A. v. Rhein, R. B. Wehrspohn, S. van Riesen, and S. Glunz "Dispersive elements for spectrum splitting in solar cell applications", Proc. SPIE 6197, Photonics for Solar Energy Systems, 619704 (12 May 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.662567

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