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arXiv · 1301.1068

Single nanowire solar cells beyond the Shockley-Queisser limit

Peter Krogstrup·Henrik Ingerslev Jørgensen·Martin Heiss·Olivier Demichel·Jeppe V. Holm·Martin Aagesen·Jesper Nygard·Anna Fontcuberta i Morral
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Abstract

Light management is of great importance to photovoltaic cells, as it determines the fraction of incident light entering the device. An optimal pn-junction combined with an optimal light absorption can lead to a solar cell efficiency above the Shockley-Queisser limit. Here, we show how this is possible by studying photocurrent generation for a single core-shell p-i-n junction GaAs nanowire solar cell grown on a silicon substrate. At one sun illumination a short circuit current of 180 mA/cm^2 is obtained, which is more than one order of magnitude higher than what would be predicted from Lambert-Beer law. The enhanced light absorption is shown to be due to a light concentrating property of the standing nanowire as shown by photocurrent maps of the device. The results imply new limits for the maximum efficiency obtainable with III-V based nanowire solar cells under one sun illumination.

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Peter Krogstrup, Henrik Ingerslev Jørgensen, Martin Heiss, Olivier Demichel, Jeppe V. Holm, Martin Aagesen, Jesper Nygard, Anna Fontcuberta i Morral. 2013-01-06. Single nanowire solar cells beyond the Shockley-Queisser limit. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2013.32

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