High Efficiency Photovoltaics Thomas 1

Review of High Efficiency Photovoltaic Cell Possibilities

Michael Thomas

Pennsylvania State University

High Efficiency Photovoltaics Thomas 2

Michael Thomas

Dr. Robinson

EMSC 100S

November 4, 2019

Over the last 50 years, the environmental crisis the planet is facing has become

abundantly clear to many people. Many groups of researchers have poured lots of money and

time into developing techniques to mitigate this. One of the frontrunners in current adoption is

renewable energy technologies, and the quickest growing one of those at the moment is solar

power.

The global energy generation system relies heavily on fossil fuels, which contribute to

global warming. In fact, approximately 85% of global energy needs are currently met by fossil

fuels. Accordingly, solar energy is the quickest growing renewable energy market as of 2014.

Additionally, with global energy demand expected to go up two-fold by 2050, positioning solar

as the most efficient and economically viable option is essential to the industry. This demand is

currently driving research into solar products.1

Solar cells work based on the photovoltaic effect. When light of sufficient energy hits a

photovoltaic cell, it moves an electron from the valence band into the conduction band of a

compound. The electron moves to the n-side of a p-n semiconductor junction while its

corresponding hole, the vacancy it left behind, moves to the p-side.

Solar power has been gradually improving over time, with some materials improving

quicker than others. Perovskite is one material that is improving far quicker than others. It refers

to the group of ceramics with the formula ABY3, where A and B stand in for different cations or

cationic compounds and Y is an anion. Compound A fills the lattice positions, while B fills the
High Efficiency Photovoltaics Thomas 3

body-centered interstitial, and Y fills the face-centered interstitials.1 First tested in solar cells in

2009, perovskite solar gained little attention due to its lackluster 4% efficiency. By 2012, the

efficiency was up to just under 10%, and more widespread research began.1 NREL, the National

Renewable Energy Laboratory, began collecting data on perovskite solar cells in 2013 to include

in their Solar Efficiency Chart. Perovskite cells are identified in Figure 1 by the arrow. Note that

they first appear in 2013, as this is the first year NREL included them in the chart.

Fig.1 – A graph showing the best experimental cell efficiencies of different types of photovoltaic
Perovskite Cells

cells over time from 1975 to present.2

Although perovskite shows great potential, other materials are still the most important in

the industry. Silicon semiconductors are currently the most popular in industry, capturing more

than half of the market for solar photovoltaic installations. This is primarily due to their

relatively high efficiency, proven reliability, and comparably low cost.3 While this is likely to

continue for some time,3 silicon based photovoltaics are nearly reaching their theoretical

maximum efficiency.1 This proverbially opens the door for photovoltaic cells made out of group
High Efficiency Photovoltaics Thomas 4

II-IV or III-V semiconductors, which are predicted to be adopted by the industry in coming

years.4

Polman and Atwater explored the potential of adopting these materials and found many

avenues for improvement. They calculated that if the flow of light within a solar cell could be

optimized, about half a volt of generated power could be gained.5 However, even with this

improvement, experimental performance of III-V semiconductors would still fall below the level

predicted by the Shockley-Quiesser limit (which states that any single p-n junction solar cell

cannot have an efficiency greater than 33.7%). There are three main categories of efficiency loss

present in photovoltaic cells: collection losses, material and interface quality losses, and

electrical losses.4 Examples of these include photon reflection and cell resistances.

To bypass the Shockley-Quiesser limit, they noted the many strengths of using multiple

types of p-n junctions (called multi-junction cells) to capture different wavelengths of light.

These multi-junction cells have been explored already (see fig.1), however they can be further

optimized. Currently, junctions are connected in series, which practically limits their output

current to that of the lowest current producing junction.5 This could be solved by reconnecting

junctions in parallel, and complex nano-componentry similar to that which is needed to realize

this are already in use in optical telecommunication networks. Costs of III-V semiconductor

photovoltaics are also being reduced by new developments in epitaxial lift-off techniques.5 This

will make them increasingly viable in the future.

A final type of photovoltaic cell is that based on an organic semiconductor. Although

they are the lowest efficiency type of cell currently, they have potential. Currently, organic

photovoltaics have serious durability issues and tend to degrade quickly in an experimental

environment. Looking at the development history of other organic electronics, specifically

High Efficiency Photovoltaics Thomas 5

OLEDs, or Organic Light Emitting Diodes, their efficiency and more importantly, their

durability should be improved.6

Future research is possible and necessary for each type of photovoltaic to increase

efficiency. This will be beneficial by improving the viability of solar energy and helping steer the

energy sector away from exhaustible and damaging fossil fuels. One particular future experiment

can focus on the effects of humidity on perovskite solar cells, as Tang et al. noted that humidity

is recognized as a key cause of the current long-term instability of perovskite solar cells.1 As this

research and others is realized the path to high-efficiency photovoltaic cells will be clearer,

eventually leading to an increase in solar usage.

High Efficiency Photovoltaics Thomas 6

References:

1. Tang, H., He, S., & Peng, C. (2017). A short progress report on high-efficiency

perovskite solar cells. Nanoscale Research Letters, 12(1), 410-8. doi:10.1186/s11671-

017-2187-5

2. This plot is courtesy of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO.

https://www.nrel.gov/pv/cell-efficiency.html

3. Lee, Y., Park, C., Balaji, N., Lee, Y., & Dao, V.A. (2015). High-efficiency silicon solar

cells: A review. Israel Journal of Chemistry, 55(10), 1050-1063.

doi:10.1002/ijch.201400210

4. Green, M. A., & Bremner, S. P. (2016;2017;). Energy conversion approaches and

materials for high-efficiency photovoltaics. Nature Materials, 16(1), 23-34.

doi:10.1038/nmat4676

5. Polman, A., & Atwater, H. A. (2012). Photonic design principles for ultrahigh-efficiency

photovoltaics. Nature Materials, 11(3), 174-177. doi:10.1038/nmat3263

6. Nayak, P. K., Garcia-Belmonte, G., Kahn, A., Bisquert, J., & Cahen, D. (2012).

Photovoltaic efficiency limits and material disorder. Energy and Environmental Science,

5(3), 622-639. doi:10.1039/c2ee0317g