No Arabic abstract
Here we report the development of high-efficiency microscale GaAs laser power converters, and their successful transfer printing onto silicon substrates, presenting a unique, high power, low-cost and integrated power supply solution for implantable electronics, autonomous systems and internet of things applications. We present 300 {mu}m diameter single-junction GaAs laser power converters and successfully demonstrate the transfer printing of these devices to silicon using a PDMS stamp, achieving optical power conversion efficiencies of 48% and 49% under 35 and 71 W/cm2 808 nm laser illumination respectively. The transferred devices are coated with ITO to increase current spreading and are shown to be capable of handling very high short-circuit current densities up to 70 A/cm2 under 141 W/cm2 illumination intensity (~1400 Suns), while their open circuit voltage reaches 1235 mV, exceeding the values of pre-transfer devices indicating the presence of photon-recycling. These optical power sources could deliver Watts of power to sensors and systems in locations where wired power is not an option, while using a massively parallel, scalable, and low-cost fabrication method for the integration of dissimilar materials and devices.
Semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are promising for flexible high-specific-power photovoltaics due to their ultrahigh optical absorption coefficients, desirable band gaps and self-passivated surfaces. However, challenges such as Fermi-level pinning at the metal contact-TMD interface and the inapplicability of traditional doping schemes have prevented most TMD solar cells from exceeding 2% power conversion efficiency (PCE). In addition, fabrication on flexible substrates tends to contaminate or damage TMD interfaces, further reducing performance. Here, we address these fundamental issues by employing: 1) transparent graphene contacts to mitigate Fermi-level pinning, 2) $rm{MoO}_it{x}$ capping for doping, passivation and anti-reflection, and 3) a clean, non-damaging direct transfer method to realize devices on lightweight flexible polyimide substrates. These lead to record PCE of 5.1% and record specific power of $rm{4.4 W,g^{-1}}$ for flexible TMD ($rm{WSe_2}$) solar cells, the latter on par with prevailing thin-film solar technologies cadmium telluride, copper indium gallium selenide, amorphous silicon and III-Vs. We further project that TMD solar cells could achieve specific power up to $rm{46 W,g^{-1}}$, creating unprecedented opportunities in a broad range of industries from aerospace to wearable and implantable electronics.
Micro-solid oxide fuel cells based on thin films have strong potential for use in portable power devices. However, devices based on silicon substrates typically involve thin-film metallic electrodes which are unstable at high temperatures. Devices based on bulk metal substrates overcome these limitations, though performance is hindered by the challenge of growing state-of-the-art epitaxial materials on metals. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the growth of epitaxial cathode materials on metal substrates (stainless steel) commercially supplied with epitaxial electrolyte layers (1.5 {um (Y2O3)0.15(ZrO2)0.85 (YSZ) + 50 nm CeO2). We create epitaxial mesoporous cathodes of (La0.60Sr0.40)0.95Co0.20Fe0.80O3 (LSCF) on the substrate by growing LSCF/MgO vertically aligned nanocomposite films by pulsed laser deposition, followed by selectively etching out the MgO. To enable valid comparison with the literature, the cathodes are also grown on single-crystal substrates, confirming state-of-the-art performance with an area specific resistance of 100ohmegacm2 at 500dC and activation energy down to 0.97 eV. The work marks an important step toward the commercialization of high-performance micro-solid oxide fuel cells for portable power applications.
Singlet fission in tetracene generates two triplet excitons per absorbed photon. If these triplet excitons can be effectively transferred into silicon (Si) then additional photocurrent can be generated from photons above the bandgap of Si. This could alleviate the thermalization loss and increase the efficiency of conventional Si solar cells. Here we show that a change in the polymorphism of tetracene deposited on Si due to air exposure, facilitates triplet transfer from tetracene into Si. Magnetic field-dependent photocurrent measurements confirm that triplet excitons contribute to the photocurrent. The decay of tetracene delayed photoluminescence was used to determine a triplet transfer time of 215 ns and a maximum yield of triplet transfer into Si of ~50 %. Our study suggests that control over the morphology of tetracene during deposition will be of great importance to boost the triplet transfer yield further.
The thermodynamic limit of photovoltaic efficiency for a single-junction solar cell can be readily predicted using the bandgap of the active light absorbing material. Such an approach overlooks the energy loss due to non-radiative electron-hole processes. We propose a practical ab initio procedure to determine the maximum efficiency of a thin-film solar cell that takes into account both radiative and non-radiative recombination. The required input includes the frequency-dependent optical absorption coefficient, as well as the capture cross-sections and equilibrium populations of point defects. For kesterite-structured Cu$_2$ZnSnS$_4$, the radiative limit is reached for a film thickness of around 2.6 micrometer, where the efficiency gain due to light absorption is counterbalanced by losses due to the increase in recombination current.
Practical device architectures are proposed here for the implementation of three-terminal heterojunction bipolar transistor solar cells (3T-HBTSCs). These photovoltaic devices, which have a potential efficiency similar to that of multijunction cells, exhibit reduced spectral sensitivity compared with monolithically and series-connected tandem solar cells. In addition, the simplified n-p-n (or p-n-p) structure does not require the use of tunnel junctions. In this framework, four architectures are proposed and discussed in this paper: 1) one in which the top cell is based on silicon and the bottom cell is based on a heterojunction between silicon and III-V nanomaterials; 2) one in which the top cell is made of amorphous silicon and the bottom cell is made of an amorphous silicon-silicon heterojunction; 3) one based on the use of III-V semiconductors aimed at space applications; and 4) one in which the top cell is based on a perovskite material and the bottom cell is made of a perovskite-silicon heterostructure.