Title :
Improving the Short-Wavelength Spectral Response of Silicon Solar Cells by Spray Deposition of YVO4 :Eu3+ Downshifting Phosphor Nanoparticles
Author :
Chander, Nikhil ; Sardana, Sanjay K. ; Parashar, Piyush K. ; Khan, A.F. ; Chawla, Santa ; Komarala, Vamsi K.
Author_Institution :
Photovoltaic Lab., Indian Inst. of Technol. Delhi, New Delhi, India
Abstract :
Europium-doped yttrium vanadate downshifting phosphor nanoparticles (NPs) have been coated on top of monocrystalline silicon solar cells, having efficiency more than 15%, by a spray deposition technique. The effects of phosphor NPs on solar cells with antireflection coating (ARC) have been studied. The optimized quantity of phosphor NPs provides a photocurrent enhancement of ~2.1% for monosilicon solar cells. External quantum efficiency data of high-efficiency ARC layer-coated silicon solar cells conclusively show that the enhancement in short-wavelength spectral response is mainly due to downshifting effects of the phosphor NPs. A small increment in a long-wavelength spectral response is also observed due to the scattering effects of phosphor NPs, which also results in a small enhancement of effective diffusion length of minority carriers in the base region.
Keywords :
antireflection coatings; carrier lifetime; elemental semiconductors; europium; minority carriers; nanofabrication; nanoparticles; phosphors; photoconductivity; silicon; solar cells; spray coating techniques; yttrium compounds; Si; YVO4:Eu; downshifting effects; effective diffusion length enhancement; europium-doped yttrium vanadate downshifting phosphor nanoparticles; external quantum efficiency; high-efficiency antireflection coating layer-coated silicon solar cells; long-wavelength spectral response; minority carriers; monocrystalline silicon solar cells; phosphor nanoparticle effects; photocurrent enhancement; scattering effects; short-wavelength spectral response; spray deposition; Coatings; Dispersion; Nanoparticles; Phosphors; Photoconductivity; Photovoltaic cells; Silicon; Downshifting; phosphor nanoparticles; silicon solar cell; spray deposition;
Journal_Title :
Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JPHOTOV.2015.2438633