Abstract
Photonic upconversion of in-band light into shorter-wavelength light has been proposed as a protocol to overcome the Shockley-Queisser (SQ) limit of photovoltaics. Many research contributions have attempted the incorporation of upconversion materials to realize this strategy. However, devising a real device with an efficiency exceeding the SQ limit still remains technically unreachable. To understand this paradoxical question, herein we use a typical upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP) with halide perovskite as a platform to quantify the UC contribution to the efficiency improvement. Our results show that the UC-induced photocurrent gain is negligible; nevertheless, the incorporation of nanomaterials even without UC capability can still enhance the photocurrent, which is related to a redistribution of the optical field and consequently a homogenization of the optical field (HOF). This can lead to a reduced photocarrier loss and provide a noticeable photocurrent enhancement (ca. 7%), which explains the general photocurrent improvement in solar cells with nanomaterials.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1657-1671 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | ACS Energy Letters |
| DOIs | |
| State | Accepted/In press - 2022 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR Award Number FA9550-20-1-0157). H.W. and J.Y. acknowledge the support from the U.S. Department of Energy Award No. DE-SC0019844, under the STTR program (Prime – NanoSonic Inc.). D.Y. acknowledges the support from Norfolk State University through NSF-CREST Grant Number HRD 1547771. L.Z. acknowledges the support through NSF I/UCRC: Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems (CEHMS) through Award Number IIP-1916707.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Chemical Society.
