Temperature coefficient of Silicon based carrier selective solar cells

TL;DR

This study uses numerical simulations to analyze how interface and material parameters influence the temperature coefficient of Silicon carrier selective solar cells, revealing key factors for optimizing their temperature stability.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the effects of band discontinuities and interface quality on the temperature coefficient of CS solar cells, guiding material and process optimization.

Findings

Temperature coefficient improves with increased band discontinuities.

Interface quality of the minority carrier extraction layer critically affects temperature coefficient.

Results suggest optimal material choices for temperature stability.

Abstract

Carrier Selective (CS) Silicon solar cells are increasingly explored as a low cost alternative to PN junction Silicon solar cells. While the recent trends on power conversion efficiency are encouraging, the temperature coefficient and hence the power output under elevated temperatures are not well explored for such solar cells. Here, we address this issue through detailed numerical simulations to explore the influence of interface and material parameters on the temperature coefficient. Our results indicate that irrespective of the interface quality, the temperature coefficient of CS solar cells improves with an increase in band discontinuities. Interestingly, contrary to the trends related to efficiency, our results indicate that the temperature coefficient of CS solar cells is more critically affected by the interface quality of the minority carrier extraction layer than the majority carrier extraction layer. These insights have important implications towards the choice of optimal material and processing conditions for Si based CS solar cells.