The viability of organic dyes in luminescent down-shifting layers for the enhancement of si solar cell efficiency

A. Glenn, C. McLoughlin, H. Ahmed, H. Akbari, S. Chandra, S. McCormack

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

The main energy losses in solar cells are related to spectral losses where high energy photons are not used efficiently, and energy is lost via thermalization which reduces the solar cell’s overall efficiency. A way to tackle this is to introduce a luminescent down-shifting layer (LDS) to convert these high energy photons into a lower energy bracket helping the solar cell to absorb them and thus generating a greater power output. In this paper, lumogen dye Violet 570 has been used as LDS coated films of 10µm and 60µm placed on top of Si solar cells. The dye was incorporated into polymer films of Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB) and Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) after which they were tested for their absorption, transmission and emission properties. Once optimised layers had been determined, they were deposited directly onto silicon solar cells and the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the Si solar cells were measured with and without the LDS layers. The resulting graphs have shown an increase of up to 2.9% in the overall EQE efficiency after the lumogen films had been applied.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFrontiers of Composite Materials IV
EditorsDarren Martin, Tatiana Perova
PublisherTrans Tech Publications Ltd
Pages71-76
Number of pages6
ISBN (Print)9783035715965
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020
Event4th International Conference on Frontiers of Composite Materials, ICFCM 2019 and 4th International Conference on Energy Engineering and Smart Materials, ICEESM 2019 - Brisbane, Australia
Duration: 13 Nov 201916 Nov 2019

Publication series

NameMaterials Science Forum
Volume995 MSF
ISSN (Print)0255-5476
ISSN (Electronic)1662-9752

Conference

Conference4th International Conference on Frontiers of Composite Materials, ICFCM 2019 and 4th International Conference on Energy Engineering and Smart Materials, ICEESM 2019
Country/TerritoryAustralia
CityBrisbane
Period13/11/1916/11/19

Keywords

  • External Quantum Efficiency
  • Luminescent Down-Shifting Layer
  • Lumogen Dye
  • Silicon Solar Cell
  • Spin-coating

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