Luminescent Solar Concentrator Tandem-on-Silicon with above 700mV Passivated Contact Silicon Bottom Cell

Abstract

Luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) tandem-on-silicon (Si) provides a route towards achieving higher than 30% overall efficiency which can overcome the theoretical efficiency limit of a single junction Si cell. Here, we present optical coupling and performance of high Voc passivated contact Si bottom cell for LSC tandem-on-Si where the top module consists of highly efficient luminophores and an array of micro InGaP cells embedded in a poly (lauryl methacrylate) waveguide. In this device configuration, InGaP cell area coverage is only ~0.5% of the total LSC area which significantly reduces the high cost III-V material usage. The performance of Si sub-cell is investigated under LSC spectrum and is compared against the measurement done under 1 μm thick InGaP filter which mimics the spectrum seen by Si bottom cell in a conventional III-V/Si tandem. Voc of greater than 700 mV has been observed for the passivated contact Si bottom cell in these tandem applications.