The intermittent nature of the sunlight and its increasing contribution to electricity generation is fostering the energy storage research. Direct solar charging of an auspicious type of redox flow battery could make solar energy directly and efficiently dispatchable. The first solar aqueous alkaline redox flow battery using low cost and environmentally safe materials is demonstrated. The elect...

We have investigated, by means of numerical simulation, the possible nature of the recombination heterointerface in the monolithic CGS (top)/CIGS (bottom) tandem solar cell. The results show that current transport by tunnelling might be of less importance. On the other hand, a good recombination junction can be achieved by a formation of a semi–metal at the back contact. It is proposed that a t...

Abstract Characterizing subcells in two-terminal multi-junction (M-J) solar cells is challenging due to the lack of direct electrical access. This work presents a novel contactless spectral characterization technique for analysing individual subcells. The involves probing terahertz (THz) radiation generated by femtosecond laser pulse excitation and varying exciting wavelength selectively absorb...

In this article, the effect of plasmonics properties of metal nanorods and nanoparticles on solar cell performance were investigated and simulated. Due to the classic solar cell disadvantages, it seems that a plasmonic solar cell is one of these methods. In plasmonic solar cells, because of plasmonic effect, a high electric field builds around metal nanoparticles so that high conversion efficie...

A one-dimensional mathematical model of the liquid-junction photovoltaic cell was coupled with primary resistance calculations to predict the optimal performance of three cell configurations. Two cells are considered in which the semiconductor is i l luminated from the electrolyte side and one in which the semiconductor is i l luminated from the current-collector side. An economic analysis is p...

In this work, kesterite-type Cu2ZnGeSxSe4-x absorbers were prepared by a two-step process for use in thin-film solar cells. Their high band gap makes them an interesting candidate as top cells in multijunction solar cells. However, an exact tuning of the band gap is essential. Therefore, for the first time, the [S]/([S] + [Se]) ratio was controlled via addition of a variable amount of GeS durin...

The High-Performance Photovoltaic (HiPerf PV)Project was initiated by the U.S. Department of Energy to substantially increase the viability of photovoltaics (PV) for cost-competitive applications so that PV can contribute significantly to our energy supply and our environment in the 21st century. To accomplish this, the NCPV directs in-house and subcontracted research in high-performance polycr...

InGaN epilayers have been investigated for use in photovoltaic solar cells for the past years. At present, almost all photovoltaic device structures reported have exhibited very low short circuit currents and thus very low solar conversion efficiency. This phenomenon has been attributed to point and extended defect chemistry in InGaN epilayers (e.g. vacancies, misfit dislocations, and V-defects...

We have developed the 3-dimensional optical model for thin film silicon solar cells (amorphous, microcrystalline, single or multijunction) with nanorough surfaces/interfaces. For these cells the external quantum efficiency, short circuit current, total reflectance and all absorption losses can be computed taking into account roughness, angular distribution of scattered light, thicknesses and ex...

In this paper, we discuss two new paradigms for enabling costeffective III-V solar cell photovoltaics using (i) our novel layer transfer technology, called controlled spalling and (ii) new solar cell device structures. First, we present the application of the controlled spalling for making high-efficiency thin-film multijunction solar cells. Finally, a novel GaAs heterojunction solar cell struc...