Device Architecture and Lifetime Requirements for High Efficiency Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells
We present a numerical simulation study of different multicrystalline silicon materials and solar cell architectures to understand today's efficiency limitations and future efficiency possibilities. We compare conventional full-area BSF and PERC solar cells to future cell designs with a gallium...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Elsevier
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/107415 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8345-4937 |
| _version_ | 1826205193906159616 |
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| author | Mitchell, Bernhard Altermatt, Pietro P. Wagner, Hannes Hofstetter, Jasmin Buonassisi, Anthony |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Mitchell, Bernhard Altermatt, Pietro P. Wagner, Hannes Hofstetter, Jasmin Buonassisi, Anthony |
| author_sort | Mitchell, Bernhard |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We present a numerical simulation study of different multicrystalline silicon materials and solar cell architectures to understand today's efficiency limitations and future efficiency possibilities. We compare conventional full-area BSF and PERC solar cells to future cell designs with a gallium phosphide heteroemitter. For all designs, mc-Si materials with different excess carrier lifetime distributions are used as simulation input parameters to capture a broad range of materials. The results show that conventional solar cell designs are sufficient for generalized mean lifetimes between 40 – 90 μs, but do not give a clear advantage in terms of efficiency for higher mean lifetime mc-Si material because they are often limited by recombination in the phosphorus diffused emitter region. Heteroemitter designs instead increase in cell efficiency considerable up to generalized mean lifetimes of 380 μs because they are significantly less limited by recombination in the emitter and the bulk lifetime becomes more important. In conclusion, to benefit from increasing mc-Si lifetime, new cell designs, especially heteroemitter, are desirable. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:08:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/107415 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:08:51Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1074152022-10-01T13:19:17Z Device Architecture and Lifetime Requirements for High Efficiency Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells Mitchell, Bernhard Altermatt, Pietro P. Wagner, Hannes Hofstetter, Jasmin Buonassisi, Anthony Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Wagner, Hannes Hofstetter, Jasmin Buonassisi, Anthony We present a numerical simulation study of different multicrystalline silicon materials and solar cell architectures to understand today's efficiency limitations and future efficiency possibilities. We compare conventional full-area BSF and PERC solar cells to future cell designs with a gallium phosphide heteroemitter. For all designs, mc-Si materials with different excess carrier lifetime distributions are used as simulation input parameters to capture a broad range of materials. The results show that conventional solar cell designs are sufficient for generalized mean lifetimes between 40 – 90 μs, but do not give a clear advantage in terms of efficiency for higher mean lifetime mc-Si material because they are often limited by recombination in the phosphorus diffused emitter region. Heteroemitter designs instead increase in cell efficiency considerable up to generalized mean lifetimes of 380 μs because they are significantly less limited by recombination in the emitter and the bulk lifetime becomes more important. In conclusion, to benefit from increasing mc-Si lifetime, new cell designs, especially heteroemitter, are desirable. United States. Department of Energy. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (Award DE-EE0006335) Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Postdoctoral Fellowship) 2017-03-15T15:31:36Z 2017-03-15T15:31:36Z 2015-08 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1876-6102 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/107415 Wagner, Hannes et al. “Device Architecture and Lifetime Requirements for High Efficiency Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells.” Energy Procedia 77 (2015): 225–230. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8345-4937 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2015.07.031 Energy Procedia Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Elsevier Elsevier |
| spellingShingle | Mitchell, Bernhard Altermatt, Pietro P. Wagner, Hannes Hofstetter, Jasmin Buonassisi, Anthony Device Architecture and Lifetime Requirements for High Efficiency Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title | Device Architecture and Lifetime Requirements for High Efficiency Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_full | Device Architecture and Lifetime Requirements for High Efficiency Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_fullStr | Device Architecture and Lifetime Requirements for High Efficiency Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_full_unstemmed | Device Architecture and Lifetime Requirements for High Efficiency Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_short | Device Architecture and Lifetime Requirements for High Efficiency Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells |
| title_sort | device architecture and lifetime requirements for high efficiency multicrystalline silicon solar cells |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/107415 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8345-4937 |
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