A numerical study of Bi-periodic binary diffraction gratings for solar cell applications

In this paper, a numerical study is made of simple bi-periodic binary diffraction gratings for solar cell applications. The gratings consist of hexagonal arrays of elliptical towers and wells etched directly into the solar cell substrate. The gratings are applied to two distinct solar cell technologies: a quantum dot intermediate band solar cell (QD-IBSC) and a crystalline silicon solar cell (SSC). In each case, the expected photocurrent increase due to the presence of the grating is calculated assuming AM1.5D illumination. For each technology, the grating period, well/tower depth and well/tower radii are optimised to maximise the photocurrent. The optimum parameters are presented. Results are presented for QD-IBSCs with a range of quantum dot layers and for SSCs with a range of thicknesses. For the QD-IBSC, it is found that the optimised grating leads to an absorption enhancement above that calculated for an ideally Lambertian scatterer for cells with less than 70 quantum dot layers. In a QD-IBSC with 50 quantum dot layers equipped with the optimum grating, the weak intermediate band to conduction band transition absorbs roughly half the photons in the corresponding sub-range of the AM1.5D spectrum. For the SSC, it is found that the optimised grating leads to an absorption enhancement above that calculated for an ideally Lambertian scatterer for cells with thicknesses of 10 ?m or greater. A 20um thick SSC equipped with the optimised grating leads to an absorption enhancement above that of a 200um thick SSC equipped with a planar back reflector.

Extended Triple-Junction Solar Cell 3D Distributed Model: Application to Chromatic Aberration-Related Losses

An extended 3D distributed model based on distributed circuit units for the simulation of triple‐junction solar cells under realistic conditions for the light distribution has been developed. A special emphasis has been put in the capability of the model to accurately account for current mismatch and chromatic aberration effects. This model has been validated, as shown by the good agreement between experimental and simulation results, for different light spot characteristics including spectral mismatch and irradiance non‐uniformities. This model is then used for the prediction of the performance of a triple‐junction solar cell for a light spot corresponding to a real optical architecture in order to illustrate its suitability in assisting concentrator system analysis and design process.

Integration of III-V materials on Silicon Substrates for Multi-junction Solar Cell Applications

The work presented here aims to reduce the cost of multijunction solar cell technology by developing ways to manufacture them on cheap substrates such as silicon. In particular, our main objective is the growth of III-V semiconductors on silicon substrates for photovoltaic applications. The goal is to create a GaAsP/Si virtual substrates onto which other III-V cells could be integrated with an interesting efficiency potential. This technology involves several challenges due to the difficulty of growing III-V materials on silicon. In this paper, our first work done aimed at developing such structure is presented. It was focused on the development of phosphorus diffusion models on silicon and on the preparation of an optimal silicon surface to grow on it III-V materials.

Mono-crystalline silicon wafers manufactured by casting methods: Optoelectronic, structural and solar cell study

1) Introduction 2) The Quasi-mono, pseudo-mono, mono-like ERA. 3) Manufacturing mono-cast ingots: COST (seed recycling) 4) Summary and findings 5) Current status at DCWafers

Contribution sharing of a fuel mixture components to the fuel cell potencial of a direct alcohol fuel cell

The increasing worldwide demand for electricity impels to develop clean and renewable energy resources. In the field of portable power devices not only size and weight represent important aspects to take into account, but the fuel and its storage are also critical issues to consider. In this last sense, the direct methanol (MeOH) fuel cells (DMFC) play an important role as they can offer high power and energy density, low emissions, ambient operating conditions and fast and convenient refuelling.

Guide to intermediate band solar cell research

The intermediate band solar cell (IBSC) is a solar cell that, in order to increase its efficiency over that of single gap solar cells, takes advantage of the absorption of below-bandgap energy photons by means of an intermediate band (IB) located in the semiconductor bandgap. For this process to improve the solar cell performance, the belowbandgap photon absorption has to be effective and the IB cannot limit the open-circuit voltage of the cell. In this paper we provide a guide to the new researcher interested in the idea in order he can quickly become familiar with the concept and updated with the most relevant experimental results.

Full-Wafer Roller-NIL Processes for Silicon Solar Cell Texturisation

The highest solar cell efficiencies both for c-Si and mc-Si were reached using template based texturing processes. Especially for mc-Si the benefit of a defined texture, the so called honeycomb texture, was demonstrated impressively. However, up until now, no industrially feasible process has been available to pattern the necessary etching masks with the sufficient resolution. Roller-Nanoimprint Lithography (Roller-NIL) has the potential to overcome these limitations and to allow high quality pattern transfers, even in the sub-micron regime, in continuous in-line processes. Therefore, this etch-mask patterning technique is a suitable solution to bring such elaborate features like the honeycomb texture to an industrial realization. Beyond that, this fast printing-like technology opens up new possibilities to introduce promising concepts like photonic structures into solar cells.

GRS Results for the Burnup Pin-cell Benchmark Propagation of Cross-Section, Fission Yields and Decay Data Uncertainties

GRS Results for the Burnup Pin-cell Benchmark Propagation of Cross-Section, Fission Yields and Decay Data Uncertainties

The intermediate band approach in the third solar cell generation context

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films were deposited using a high pressure sputtering (HPS) system. In this work, we have studied the composition and optical properties of the films (band-gap, absorption coefficient), and their dependence with the deposition parameters. For films deposited at high pressure (1 mbar), composition measurements show a critical dependence of the purity of the films with the RF power. Films manufactured with RF-power above 80W exhibit good properties for future application, similar to the films deposited by CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) for hydrogenated amorphous silicon.

Six not so easy pieces in intermediate band solar cell research

The concept of "intermediate band solar cell" (IBSC) is, apparently, simple to grasp. However, since the idea was proposed, our understanding has improved and we feel now that we can explain better some concepts than we initially introduced. Clarifying these concepts is important, even if they are well-known for the advanced researcher, so that efforts can be driven in the right direction from start. The six pieces of this work are: Does a miniband need to be formed when the IBSC is implemented with quantum dots?; What are the problems of each of the main practical approaches that exist today? What are the simplest experimental techniques to demonstrate whether an IBSC is working as such or not? What is the issue with the absorption coefficient overlap? and Mott's transition? What the best system would be, if any?

Limits of the power of Tissue P systems with cell division

Tissue P systems generalize the membrane structure tree usual in original models of P systems to an arbitrary graph. Basic opera- tions in these systems are communication rules, enriched in some variants with cell division or cell separation. Several variants of tissue P systems were recently studied, together with the concept of uniform families of these systems. Their computational power was shown to range between P and NP ? co-NP , thus characterizing some interesting borderlines between tractability and intractability. In this paper we show that com- putational power of these uniform families in polynomial time is limited by the class PSPACE . This class characterizes the power of many clas- sical parallel computing models

A puzzling solar cell structure: an exercise to get insight on intermediate band solar cells

We introduce one trivial but puzzling solar cell structure. It consists of a high bandgap pn junction (top cell) grown on a substrate of lower bandgap. Let us assume, for example, that the bandgap of the top cell is 1.85 eV (Al 0.3Ga 0.7As) and the bandgap of the substrate is 1.42 eV (GaAs). Is the open-circuit of the top cell limited to 1.42 V or to 1.85 V? If the answer is ldquo1.85 Vrdquo we could then make the mind experiment in which we illuminate the cell with 1.5 eV photons (notice these photons would only be absorbed in the substrate). If we admit that these photons can generate photocurrent, then because we have also admitted that the voltage is limited to 1.85 V, it might be possible that the electron-hole pairs generated by these photons were extracted at 1.6 V for example. However, if we do so, the principles of thermodynamics could be violated because we would be extracting more energy from the photon than the energy it initially had. How can we then solve this puzzle?

Interleaved multi-cell isolated three-phase PWM rectifier system for aircraft applications

Recently there has been an important increase in electric equipment, as well as, electric power demand in aircrafts applications. This prompts to the necessity of efficient, reliable, and low-weight converters, especially rectifiers from 115VAC to 270VDC because these voltages are used in power distribution. In order to obtain a high efficiency, in aircraft application where the derating in semiconductors is high, normally several semiconductors are used in parallel to decrease the conduction losses. However, this is in conflict with high reliability. To match both goals of high efficiency and reliability, this work proposes an interleaved multi-cell rectifier system, employing several converter cells in parallel instead of parallel-connected semiconductors. In this work a 10kW multi-cell isolated rectifier system has been designed where each cell is composed of a buck type rectifier and a full bridge DC-DC converter. The implemented system exhibits 91% of efficiency, high power density (10kW/10kg), low THD (2.5%), and n−1 fault tolerance which complies, with military aircraft standards.

Distinct and conserved transcriptomic changes during nematode-induced giant cell development in tomato compared with Arabidopsis: a functional role for gene repression

Root-knot nematodes (RKNs) induce giant cells (GCs) from root vascular cells inside the galls. Accompanying molecular changes as a function of infection time and across different species, and their functional impact, are still poorly understood. Thus, the transcriptomes of tomato galls and laser capture microdissected (LCM) GCs over the course of parasitism were compared with those of Arabidopsis, and functional analysis of a repressed gene was performed. Microarray hybridization with RNA from galls and LCM GCs, infection-reproduction tests and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) transcriptional profiles in susceptible and resistant (Mi-1) lines were performed in tomato. Tomato GC-induced genes include some possibly contributing to the epigenetic control of GC identity. GC-repressed genes are conserved between tomato and Arabidopsis, notably those involved in lignin deposition. However, genes related to the regulation of gene expression diverge, suggesting that diverse transcriptional regulators mediate common responses leading to GC formation in different plant species. TPX1, a cell wall peroxidase specifically involved in lignification, was strongly repressed in GCs/galls, but induced in a nearly isogenic Mi-1 resistant line on nematode infection. TPX1 overexpression in susceptible plants hindered nematode reproduction and GC expansion. Time-course and cross-species comparisons of gall and GC transcriptomes provide novel insights pointing to the relevance of gene repression during RKN establishment.