A figure-of-merit-based framework to evaluate photovoltaic materials

TL;DR

This paper introduces a comprehensive, quantitative framework using a figure of merit to evaluate and compare photovoltaic materials, accounting for efficiency losses and guiding future development.

Contribution

It presents a novel, generalizable PV figure of merit that includes collection losses, applicable to both experimental and simulated materials, aiding in performance assessment.

Findings

Efficiency limits vary significantly among emerging PV materials.

The framework effectively distinguishes promising materials for high efficiency.

Applied to 37 PV absorbers, revealing potential for optimization.

Abstract

I propose a general quantitative framework to evaluate the quality, track the historical development, and guide future optimization of photovoltaic (PV) absorbers at any development level, including both experimentally synthesized and computer-simulated materials. The framework is based on a PV figure of merit designed to include efficiency limitations due to imperfect photocarrier collection that are not included in classic detailed balance methods. Figure-of-merit-driven efficiency limits including collection losses are calculated for 28 experimentally synthesized PV absorbers and 9 PV absorbers simulated by electronic structure methods. Among emerging absorbers for which no working solar cells have yet been reported, there are very large differences in their likelihood to achieve high PV efficiencies.