New Publication from the SUNLAB: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
A recent study led by SUNLAB PhD candidate Erin Tonita in collaboration with Arizona State University’s DEfECT Lab has been published in Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells. The authors investigated the effect of incident spectra on current loss in high efficiency textured bifacial silicon heterojunction solar cells. They developed an optoelectronic model capable of simulating the response of these cells to a variety of spectral conditions, and validated the model with fabricated cells. They calculated a decrease in parasitic absorption of up to 50% rel. with air mass (AM) increasing from 1.5 to 10 and a slight rise (~0.5% abs.) in c-Si recombination. The combined effect resulted in overall improved cell efficiency up to AM5 for front illumination and rear illumination with unity albedo. When the spectral albedo of dry-grass was considered on the rear face, this resulted in a sharp decrease in efficiency with increased AM, unlike the case of unity albedo.
Overall, current-collection and efficiency trends emphasized the importance of considering spectral effects in energy yield models. As efficiency tends to rise with AM, this will enhance energy yield in mid-to-high latitude locations, which have significant power contributions at high AM.
Rear the full article here in Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells.
E. M.Tonita, C. E. Valdivia, M. Martinez-Szewczyk, M. R. Lewis, M. I. Bertoni, and K. Hinzer, Effect of air mass on carrier losses in bifacial silicon heterojunction solar cells, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells. 230(111293) (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2021.111293