CTU Events
Today | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
« | June 2019 | » | ||||
Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su |
1 | 2 | |||||
3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
Photonic Crystal Light Trapping: The Key to Breaking Photovoltaic Efficiency Barriers
17 Jun 2019 15:00
The thermodynamic power conversion efficiency limit for silicon solar cells is close to 33%, while commercially available cells have efficiencies in the 17-20% range. The world record for silicon solar cells has inched upward from 25% to 26.7%, in the past twenty years, using cell thicknesses ranging from 450 microns to 165 microns. Photonic crystal architectures enable broadband light absorption beyond the longstanding Lambertian limit and allow silicon to absorb sunlight nearly as well as a direct-bandgap semiconductor. When combined with state-of-the-art electronics, a technological paradigm shift appears imminent. In this lecture, I describe how wave interference-based solar light- trapping in realistic photonic crystals can break longstanding barriers, enabling flexible, thin-film, silicon to achieve an unprecedented, single-junction, power conversion of 31%.
Professor Sajeev John
Department of Physics
60 Saint George Street
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario
CANADA M5S 1A7
- Place
- T2:C3-135
- Organizer
- IET CTU, K13113
- Contact person
- Ladislava Černá, ladislava.cerna@fel.cvut.cz, 420 2 2435 5811, 2090
- Attachment
- Download