Plasmon-enhanced internal photoemission for photovoltaics: Theoretical efficiency limits

Plasmon-enhanced internal photoemission for photovoltaics: Theoretical efficiency limits

Plasmon-enhanced internal photoemission in metal-semiconductor Schottky junctions has recently been proposed as an alternative photocurrent mechanism for solar cells. Here, we identify and discuss the requirements for efficient operation of such cells and analyze their performance limits under stand...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters Vol. 101; no. 7; p. 73905
Main Authors: White, Thomas P., Catchpole, Kylie R.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 13-08-2012
Subjects:
Electron density
Nanocomposites
Nanostructure
Photocurrent
Photoemission
Photovoltaic cells
Plasmonics
Solar cells
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Summary:Plasmon-enhanced internal photoemission in metal-semiconductor Schottky junctions has recently been proposed as an alternative photocurrent mechanism for solar cells. Here, we identify and discuss the requirements for efficient operation of such cells and analyze their performance limits under standard solar illumination. We show that the maximum efficiency limit is <8% even if perfect optical absorption can be achieved using plasmonic nanostructures. This limit results from the fundamental electronic properties of metallic absorbers. Modifying the electron density of states of the absorber could increase the efficiency to >20%.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.4746425