Title :
Investigation of the Efficiency Boost Due to Spectral Concentration in a Quantum-Dot Based Luminescent Concentrator
Author :
Madrid, J. ; Ropp ; Galipeau, D. ; May, S.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Phys., North Dakota State Univ., Brookings, SD
Abstract :
Luminescent concentrators may have significant promise for producing low-cost PV energy. Luminescent concentrators convert the solar spectrum and concentrate the sunlight, but the benefit that can be obtained by the spectral conversion is not obvious. This paper presents the results of a theoretical study of the impact of spectral concentration. A well-known set of relationships for PV cell efficiency was modified to include the effect of the variation in internal quantum efficiency for different wavelengths, and then used to examine the impact of spectral concentration for materials with different bandgaps. The results suggest that spectral concentration leads to only a modest increase in PV conversion efficiency
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; energy gap; gallium arsenide; photoluminescence; photovoltaic cells; semiconductor quantum dots; silicon; GaAs; PV conversion efficiency; Si; bandgaps; gallium arsenide quantum dots; internal quantum efficiency; low-cost PV energy; photovoltaic cells; quantum-dot based luminescent concentrator; silicon quantum dots; solar spectrum; spectral concentration; spectral conversion; Chemistry; Costs; Narrowband; Optical materials; Photonic band gap; Photovoltaic cells; Physics; Quantum dots; Silicon; Solar radiation;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Conference Record of the 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on
Conference_Location :
Waikoloa, HI
Print_ISBN :
1-4244-0017-1
Electronic_ISBN :
1-4244-0017-1
DOI :
10.1109/WCPEC.2006.279387
