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Nanowires With Promise for Photovoltaics

Borgström, Magnus LU ; Wallentin, Jesper LU ; Heurlin, Magnus ; Falt, Stefan ; Wickert, Peter ; Leene, Jack ; Magnusson, Martin LU ; Deppert, Knut LU orcid and Samuelson, Lars LU (2011) In IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 17(4). p.1050-1061
Abstract
Solar energy harvesting for electricity production is regarded as a fully credible future energy source: plentiful and without serious environmental concerns. The breakthrough for solar energy technology implementation has, however, been hampered by two issues: the conversion efficiency of light into electricity and the solar panel production cost. The use of III-V nanowires (NWs) in photovoltaics allows to respond to both these demands. They offer efficient light absorption and significant cost reduction. These low-dimensional structures can be grown epitaxially in dense NW arrays directly on silicon wafers, which are abundant and cheaper than the germanium substrates used for triple-junction solar cells today. For planar structures,... (More)
Solar energy harvesting for electricity production is regarded as a fully credible future energy source: plentiful and without serious environmental concerns. The breakthrough for solar energy technology implementation has, however, been hampered by two issues: the conversion efficiency of light into electricity and the solar panel production cost. The use of III-V nanowires (NWs) in photovoltaics allows to respond to both these demands. They offer efficient light absorption and significant cost reduction. These low-dimensional structures can be grown epitaxially in dense NW arrays directly on silicon wafers, which are abundant and cheaper than the germanium substrates used for triple-junction solar cells today. For planar structures, lattice matching poses a strong restriction on growth. III-V NWs offer to create highly efficient multijunction devices, since multiple materials can be combined to match the solar spectrum without the need of tightly controlled lattice matching. At the same time, less material is required for NW-based solar cells than for planar-based architecture. This approach has potential to reach more than 50% in efficiency. Here, we describe our work on NW tandem solar cells, aiming toward two junctions absorbing different parts of the solar spectrum, connected in series via a tunnel diode. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Doping, nanowires (NWs), photovoltaics (PV)
in
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics
volume
17
issue
4
pages
1050 - 1061
publisher
IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
external identifiers
  • wos:000293755500031
  • scopus:80051698354
ISSN
1077-260X
DOI
10.1109/JSTQE.2010.2073681
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
16b4b7c3-2c41-4857-8dbb-829d72131896 (old id 2162968)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:59:51
date last changed
2023-11-13 00:59:21
@article{16b4b7c3-2c41-4857-8dbb-829d72131896,
  abstract     = {{Solar energy harvesting for electricity production is regarded as a fully credible future energy source: plentiful and without serious environmental concerns. The breakthrough for solar energy technology implementation has, however, been hampered by two issues: the conversion efficiency of light into electricity and the solar panel production cost. The use of III-V nanowires (NWs) in photovoltaics allows to respond to both these demands. They offer efficient light absorption and significant cost reduction. These low-dimensional structures can be grown epitaxially in dense NW arrays directly on silicon wafers, which are abundant and cheaper than the germanium substrates used for triple-junction solar cells today. For planar structures, lattice matching poses a strong restriction on growth. III-V NWs offer to create highly efficient multijunction devices, since multiple materials can be combined to match the solar spectrum without the need of tightly controlled lattice matching. At the same time, less material is required for NW-based solar cells than for planar-based architecture. This approach has potential to reach more than 50% in efficiency. Here, we describe our work on NW tandem solar cells, aiming toward two junctions absorbing different parts of the solar spectrum, connected in series via a tunnel diode.}},
  author       = {{Borgström, Magnus and Wallentin, Jesper and Heurlin, Magnus and Falt, Stefan and Wickert, Peter and Leene, Jack and Magnusson, Martin and Deppert, Knut and Samuelson, Lars}},
  issn         = {{1077-260X}},
  keywords     = {{Doping; nanowires (NWs); photovoltaics (PV)}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{1050--1061}},
  publisher    = {{IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.}},
  series       = {{IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics}},
  title        = {{Nanowires With Promise for Photovoltaics}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JSTQE.2010.2073681}},
  doi          = {{10.1109/JSTQE.2010.2073681}},
  volume       = {{17}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}