New possibilities of efficiency improvement in multi-junction solar cells

Shalini Dubey, Arpit Swarup Mathur, Nidhi, BP Singh

Department of Physics, Institute of Basic Sciences, Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Agra, India

The efficiency is the most important feature in solar cell performance. In recent years III-V multi-junction solar are much popular among all solar cells due to their high energy conversion ratio or efficiency. There are some major ways to improve efficiency in multi-junction solar cells. The solar cells have different combination of sub cell band gaps. The design optimizations of each sub cells for spectral radiance of a particular region can result in improve solar cell performance. In multi-junction solar cells, using nanotechnology to carry out band gap engineering provides better matching to the solar spectrum and enables improved the current matching for better efficiency. The multi-junction solar cells are applicable in space applications and they are very expensive in cost. The new technology named concentrator photovoltaic overcomes these issues in multi-junction solar cells which is also economically viable. The concentration ratio improves the performance of photovoltaic cell even more. Semiconductor materials properties allow solar cells to operate more efficiently in concentrated light, as long as the cell junction temperature is kept cool by suitable heat sinks.