Multijunction solar cells efficiency simulation

TL;DR

This paper presents a detailed simulation of multijunction solar cell efficiency, considering various recombination mechanisms and heat dissipation, showing how design improvements can significantly enhance performance.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive self-consistent model for MSC efficiency that accounts for multiple recombination processes and heat management, with validation against experimental data.

Findings

Efficiency increases with improved heat dissipation.

Spectral narrowing reduces current as the number of cells increases.

Good agreement between calculated and experimental efficiencies.

Abstract

The radiative recombination, Shokley-Read recombination, frontal-surface and rear-surface recombination and the recombination at the heterojunction boundaries and the recombination in the space charge region are considered in the calculation of the multijunction solar cell (MSC) efficiency. The calculation is performed by a self-consistent solution of the equations for the photocurrent and photovoltage, as well as the heat balance equation. A cooling of MSC with the increase of the number of cells n and the improvement in the heat dissipation is regarded. It was found that, as the number of cells n is increased, narrowing of spectral range for each cell causes additional reduction of current. A substantial increase in the MSC efficiency can be achieved by improving the heat extraction using radiators and increasing emissivity. A comparison is made between the calculated and experimental efficiency values. A rather good agreement was found. A comparison between this calculation and other formalisms is given.