Enhancing the performance of photovoltaic cells by using down-converting KCaGd(PO4)(2):Eu3+ phosphors

Abstract

The goal of this work is aimed to improve the power conversion efficiency of single crystalline silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) cells by using the solar spectral conversion principle, which employed a down-converting phosphor to convert a high-energy ultraviolet photon to the less energetic red-emitting photons to improve the spectral response of Si solar cells. In this study, the surface of silicon solar cells was coated with a red-emitting KCaGd(PO4)(2):Eu3+ phosphor by using the screen-printing technique. In addition to the investigation on the microstructure using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we measured the short circuit current (I-sc), open circuit voltage (V-oc), and power conversion efficiency (eta) of spectral-conversion cells and compared with those of bare solar cells as a reference. Preliminary experimental results revealed that in an optimized PV cell, an enhancement of (0.64+0.01)% (from 16.03% to 16.67%) in Delta eta of a Si-based PV cell was achieved.