Solar spectral management in space using lanthanide-based downshifting layers

Photovoltaic (PV) cells are still the most used energy generation devices for aerospace applications. Although multijunction solar cells represent the standard commercial technology for powering spacecraft, spacecraft companies are still using Si-based PV cells to decrease the cost of satellites at the expense of efficiency and energy generation losses. One of the limitations on solar energy conversion is the mismatch between the solar spectrum and the absorption of the PV technology in use. Thus, strategies to overcome this have been proposed, namely the use of luminescent downshifting layers (DSLs) which are very promising to shape the incident sunlight. In this sense, downshifting materials with absorption in the UV/blue spectral region have been privileged considering the solar spectrum in space environments (AM0 solar spectrum), in which the UV component is larger than that on Earth surface (AM1.5 solar spectrum). Here, we propose the use of Eu³⁺-doped di-ureasil organic-inorganic hybrid materials as DSLs to be used on large area Si-based PV cells (∼0.1 m²) for space applications. Electrical measurements on the PV cell, done before and after the deposition of the DSLs, confirm the positive effect of the coatings on the device performance, with a relative increase on the generated electrical power of ∼2.6 %. Here, we report, for the first time, a DSL specifically designed for space applications and with the largest active area reported so far.