| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
- Potter, Maggie M., et al.
(författare)
-
Autonomous Light Management in Flexible Photoelectrochromic Films Integrating High Performance Silicon Solar Microcells
- 2020
-
Ingår i: ACS Applied Energy Materials. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 2574-0962. ; 3:2, s. 1540-1551
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Commercial smart window technologies for dynamic light and heat management in building and automotive environments traditionally rely on electrochromic (EC) materials powered by an external source. This design complicates building-scale installation requirements and substantially increases costs for applications in retrofit construction. Self-powered photoelectrochromic (PEC) windows are an intuitive alternative wherein a photovoltaic (PV) material is used to power the EC device, which modulates the transmission of the incident solar flux. The PV component in this application must be sufficiently transparent and produce enough power to efficiently modulate the EC device transmission. Here, we propose Si solar microcells (mu-cells) that are (i) small enough to be visually transparent to the eye and (ii) thin enough to enable flexible PEC devices. Visual transparency is achieved when Si mu-cells are arranged in high pitch (i.e., low-integration density) form factors while maintaining the advantages of a single-crystalline PV material (i.e., long lifetime and high performance). Additionally, the thin dimensions of these Si mu-cells enable fabrication on flexible substrates to realize flexible PEC devices. The current work demonstrates this concept using WO3 as the EC material and V2O5 as the ion storage layer, where each component is fabricated via sol-gel methods that afford improved prospects for scalability and tunability in comparison to thermal evaporation methods. The EC devices display fast switching times, as low as 8 s, with a modulation in transmission as high as 33%. Integration with two Si mu-cells in series (affording a 1.12 V output) demonstrates an integrated PEC module design with switching times of less than 3 min and a modulation in transmission of 32% with an unprecedented EC:PV areal ratio.
|
|
| 3. |
- Enright, Michael J., et al.
(författare)
-
Role of Atomic Structure on Exciton Dynamics and Photoluminescence in NIR Emissive InAs/InP/ZnSe Quantum Dots
- 2022
-
Ingår i: The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 126:17, s. 7576-7587
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The development of bright, near-infrared-emissive quantum dots (QDs) is a necessary requirement for the realization of important new classes of technology. Specifically, there exist significant needs for brighter, heavy metal-free, near-infrared (NIR) QDs for applications with high radiative efficiency that span diverse applications, including down-conversion emitters for high-performance luminescent solar concentrators. We use a combination of theoretical and experimental approaches to synthesize bright, NIR luminescent InAs/InP/ZnSe QDs and elucidate fundamental material attributes that remain obstacles for development of near-unity NIR QD luminophores. First, using Monte Carlo ray tracing, we identify the atomic and electronic structural attributes of InAs core/shell, NIR emitters, whose luminescence properties can be tailored by synthetic design to match most beneficially those of high-performance, single-band-gap photovoltaic devices based on important semiconductor materials, such Si or GaAs. Second, we synthesize InAs/InP/ZnSe QDs based on the optical attributes found to maximize LSC performance and develop methods to improve the emissive qualities of NIR emitters with large, tunable Stokes ratios, narrow emission linewidths, and high luminescence quantum yields (here reaching 60 +/- 2%). Third, we employ atomistic electronic structure calculations to explore charge carrier behavior at the nanoscale affected by interfacial atomic structures and find that significant exciton occupation of the InP shell occurs in most cases despite the InAs/InP type I bulk band alignment. Furthermore, the density of the valence band maximum state extends anisotropically through the (111) crystal planes to the terminal InP surfaces/interfaces, indicating that surface defects, such as unpassivated phosphorus dangling bonds, located on the (111) facets play an outsized role in disrupting the valence band maximum and quenching photoluminescence.
|
|
| 4. |
- Espinet-Gonzalez, Pilar, et al.
(författare)
-
Nanowire Solar Cells : A New Radiation Hard PV Technology for Space Applications
- 2020
-
Ingår i: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. - 2156-3381. ; 10:2, s. 502-507
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Radiation hard thin-film solar cell technologies are necessary in order to achieve a step forward in the specific power of solar arrays for space applications. In this article, we analyze the degradation of nanowire (NW) solar cells under high energy particles. GaAs NW solar cells have been irradiated with protons of 100 and 350 keV at different fluences. The radiation hardness of the NW solar cells in all the cases is remarkable in comparison with GaAs planar solar cells and prior literature. Design guidelines to optimize the specific power of NW solar cells for space applications by jointly increasing their efficiency and radiation hardness are presented.
|
|
| 5. |
- Espinet-Gonzalez, Pilar, et al.
(författare)
-
Radiation Tolerant Nanowire Array Solar Cells
- 2019
-
Ingår i: ACS Nano. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1936-0851 .- 1936-086X. ; 13:11, s. 12860-12869
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Space power systems require photovoltaics that are lightweight, efficient, reliable, and capable of operating for years or decades in space environment. Current solar panels use planar multijunction, III-V based solar cells with very high efficiency, but their specific power (power to weight ratio) is limited by the added mass of radiation shielding (e.g., coverglass) required to protect the cells from the high-energy particle radiation that occurs in space. Here, we demonstrate that III-V nanowire-array solar cells have dramatically superior radiation performance relative to planar solar cell designs and show this for multiple cell geometries and materials, including GaAs and InP. Nanowire cells exhibit damage thresholds ranging from ∼10-40 times higher than planar control solar cells when subjected to irradiation by 100-350 keV protons and 1 MeV electrons. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that this improvement is due in part to a reduction in the displacement density within the wires arising from their nanoscale dimensions. Radiation tolerance, combined with the efficient optical absorption and the improving performance of nanowire photovoltaics, indicates that nanowire arrays could provide a pathway to realize high-specific-power, substrate-free, III-V space solar cells with substantially reduced shielding requirements. More broadly, the exceptional reduction in radiation damage suggests that nanowire architectures may be useful in improving the radiation tolerance of other electronic and optoelectronic devices.
|
|
| 6. |
- Potter, Maggie M., et al.
(författare)
-
Silicon Heterojunction Microcells
- 2021
-
Ingår i: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1944-8244 .- 1944-8252. ; 13:38, s. 45600-45608
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report the design, fabrication, and characterization of silicon heterojunction microcells, a new type of photovoltaic cell that leverages high-efficiency bulk wafers in a microscale form factor, while also addressing the challenge of passivating microcell sidewalls to mitigate carrier recombination. We present synthesis methods exploiting either dry etching or laser cutting to realize microcells with native oxide-based edge passivation. Measured microcell performance for both fabrication processes is compared to that in simulations. We characterize the dependence of microcell open-circuit voltage (V-oc) on the cell area-perimeter ratio and examine synthesis processes that affect edge passivation quality, such as sidewall damage removal, the passivation material, and the deposition technique. We report the highest Si microcell V-oc to date (588 mV, for a 400 mu m x 400 mu m x 80 mu m device), demonstrate V-oc improvements with deposited edge passivation of up to 55 mV, and outline a pathway to achieve microcell efficiencies surpassing 15% for such device sizes.
|
|
| 7. |
- Tagliabue, Giulia, et al.
(författare)
-
Ultrafast hot-hole injection modifies hot-electron dynamics in Au/p-GaN heterostructures
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Nature Materials. - : Springer Nature. - 1476-1122 .- 1476-4660. ; 19:12, s. 1312-1318
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A fundamental understanding of hot-carrier dynamics in photo-excited metal nanostructures is needed to unlock their potential for photodetection and photocatalysis. Despite numerous studies on the ultrafast dynamics of hot electrons, so far, the temporal evolution of hot holes in metal-semiconductor heterostructures remains unknown. Here, we report ultrafast (t < 200 fs) hot-hole injection from Au nanoparticles into the valence band of p-type GaN. The removal of hot holes from below the Au Fermi level is observed to substantially alter the thermalization dynamics of hot electrons, reducing the peak electronic temperature and the electron-phonon coupling time of the Au nanoparticles. First-principles calculations reveal that hot-hole injection modifies the relaxation dynamics of hot electrons in Au nanoparticles by modulating the electronic structure of the metal on timescales commensurate with electron-electron scattering. These results advance our understanding of hot-hole dynamics in metal-semiconductor heterostructures and offer additional strategies for manipulating the dynamics of hot carriers on ultrafast timescales. Photo-excited gold nanoparticles are shown to provide ultrafast and efficient hot-hole injection to the valence band of p-type GaN, substantially altering hot-electron dynamics in the nanoparticles and forming a basis to design hot-hole-based optoelectronics.
|
|
