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arXiv · 1605.04410

Optimizations of GaAs Nanowire Solar Cells

Anna H. Trojnar·Christopher E. Valdivia·Ray R. LaPierre·Karin Hinzer·Jacob J. Krich
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Abstract

The efficiency of GaAs nanowire solar cells can be significantly improved without any new processing steps or material requirements. We report coupled optoelectronic simulations of a GaAs nanowire (NW) solar cell with vertical p-i-n junction and high band gap AlInP passivating shell. Our frequency-dependent model facilitates calculation of quantum efficiency for the first time in NW solar cells. For passivated NWs, we find that short-wavelength photons can be most effectively harnessed by using a thin emitter while long-wavelength photons are best utilized by extending the intrinsic region to the nanowire/substrate interface, and using the substrate as a base. These two easily implemented changes, coupled with the increase of NW height to 3.5 um with realistic surface recombination in the presence of a passivation shell, result in a NW solar cell with greater than 19% efficiency.

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Anna H. Trojnar, Christopher E. Valdivia, Ray R. LaPierre, Karin Hinzer, Jacob J. Krich. 2016-05-14. Optimizations of GaAs Nanowire Solar Cells. https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.04410

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