EAGER: TDM solar cells: Bifacial III-V nanowire array on silicon tandem solar cells

EAGER：TDM 太阳能电池：硅串联太阳能电池上的双面 III-V 纳米线阵列

• 批准号: 1665086
• 负责人: Parsian Katal Mohseni
• 金额: $ 29.98万
• 依托单位: Rochester Institute of Tech
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-05-01 至 2020-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1665086&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; TDM; solar; cells; Bifacial

Abstract:Non-Technical:Conventional state-of-the-art tandem junction photovoltaic solar cells, composed of multiple sub-cells of III-V compound semiconductors, are capable of converting incident radiation from the Sun to electricity with greater efficiency than all other types of solar cells. The high performance of these devices is enabled in part due to the use of high quality monocrystalline III-V materials and in part due to the coupling of multiple sub-cells that collectively allow for absorption of a broadband solar spectral range. However, the materials and manufacturing costs required for the development of III-V tandem junction devices is prohibitively high for use in wide-scale terrestrial consumer applications. As a consequence, the world's highest performance solar cells are limited to use in niche markets such as terrestrial high concentration and space power applications. A high-risk, high-payoff exploratory research path is proposed here that aims to provide an unconventional, yet potentially transformative nanotechnology-enabled solution to the above consumer market penetration challenges faced by state-of-the-art tandem junction solar cells. The project aims to dramatically reduce manufacturing costs by monolithically integrating III-V sub-cell composed of vertical nanowire arrays to a central silicon sub-cell, thereby simultaneously eliminating the primary III-V substrate cost-driver while cutting III-V crystal growth volumes by up to 95% compared to conventional technologies. The broader significance of this EAGER project lies in the potential realization of a low-cost and high-efficiency renewable energy innovation that provides greater national energy independence and clean power. This research also impacts and advances fundamental knowledge in science and engineering in the fields of physics, nanomaterials growth and characterization, nanoelectronics, and optoelectronics. Immediate anticipated societal impacts include outreach activities that promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics concepts to the general public, training new members of a highly-skilled workforce, and direct inclusion of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students from under-represented communities. Technical:The technical approach of this EAGER project relies on selective-area heteroepitaxy of a GaAsP (1.75 eV) nanowire array on the top surface of a thinned Si (1.1 eV) sub-cell by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. A bifacial, three dissimilar materials, tandem junction device is formed via monolithic integration of a back-side InGaAs (0.5 eV) nanowire array. The vertical nanowires comprising the top- and back-surface arrays will contain radially-segmented p-i-n junctions and will be serially connected to the central Si sub-cell via epitaxial tunnel junctions. This design enables absorption of broadband incident solar energy as well as albedo radiation. Standard lattice-matching constraints are overcome via strain relaxation along nanowire free surfaces. Therefore, ideal spectral matching is realized without a need for graded buffer layers or dislocation mediation strategies. Use of vertical nanowire arrays with coaxial p-i-n junction geometries permits key advantages, including near-unity absorption of solar irradiance at normal and tilted incidence without the use of anti-reflection coatings, decoupling of photon absorption and carrier collection directions, and dramatic reduction of 95% in epitaxial volumes. Rigorous modeling of device parameters will be iteratively coupled with extensive materials characterization and property correlation experiments for optimization of III-V sub-cell structure on the single nanowire and ensemble array levels. The ultimate target of this work is demonstration of a functional bifacial, three dissimilar materials, nanowire-based tandem junction solar cell with one Sun power conversion efficiency of 30% or better.

摘要：非技术性：传统最先进的串联结太阳能电池，由多个III-V化合物半导体子电池组成，能够将来自太阳的入射辐射转换为电能，比所有其他类型的太阳能电池具有更高的效率。这些器件的高性能部分归因于高质量单晶III-V材料的使用，部分归因于多个子电池的耦合，这些子电池共同允许吸收宽带太阳光谱范围。然而，开发III-V串联结器件所需的材料和制造成本对于大规模地面消费应用来说是令人望而却步的。因此，世界上性能最高的太阳能电池仅限于用于地面高浓度和空间电力应用等利基市场。这里提出了一条高风险、高回报的探索性研究道路，旨在提供一种非传统的、但具有潜在变革性的纳米技术支持的解决方案，以应对最先进的串联结太阳能电池所面临的上述消费市场渗透挑战。该项目旨在通过将由垂直纳米线阵列组成的III-V子单元单片集成到中心硅子单元来大幅降低制造成本，从而同时消除主要的III-V衬底成本驱动因素，同时与传统技术相比，将III-V晶体的生长量削减高达95%。这个迫切的项目更广泛的意义在于有可能实现低成本、高效率的可再生能源创新，为国家提供更大的能源独立性和清洁电力。这项研究还影响和推进了物理学、纳米材料生长和表征、纳米电子学和光电子学等领域的科学和工程基础知识。直接预期的社会影响包括向公众推广科学、技术、工程和数学概念的外展活动，培训高技能劳动力的新成员，以及直接纳入来自代表性不足社区的高中、本科生和研究生。技术：该项目的技术路线依赖于通过金属-有机化学气相沉积在减薄的Si(1.1 eV)子电池的顶部表面选择性地异质外延GaAsP(1.75 eV)纳米线阵列。通过单片集成背面InGaAs(0.5 eV)纳米线阵列，形成了一种三种不同材料的双面串联结器件。包括顶面和背面阵列的垂直纳米线将包含径向分段的p-i-n结，并且将通过外延隧道结串联连接到中央硅子单元。这种设计能够吸收宽带入射太阳能以及反照率辐射。标准的晶格匹配约束通过沿纳米线自由表面的应变松弛来克服。因此，无需分级缓冲层或位错调节策略即可实现理想的光谱匹配。使用具有同轴p-i-n结几何结构的垂直纳米线阵列具有主要优点，包括在垂直和倾斜入射时不使用减反射涂层而几乎统一地吸收太阳辐射，光子吸收和载流子收集方向的去耦合，以及外延体积显著减少95%。器件参数的严格建模将迭代地与广泛的材料表征和性能关联实验相结合，以在单纳米线和集成阵列水平上优化III-V亚单元结构。这项工作的最终目标是展示一种具有功能的双面、三种不同材料的纳米线串联结太阳能电池，其功率转换效率为30%或更高。

项目成果

Design and Simulation of the Bifacial III-V-Nanowire-on-Si Solar Cell

双面 III-V-纳米线硅太阳能电池的设计与仿真

• DOI: 10.1557/adv.2019.127
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: MRS Advances
• 影响因子: 0.8
• 作者: Fedorenko, Anastasiia;Baboli, Mohadeseh A.;Mohseni, Parsian K.;Hubbard, Seth M.
• 通讯作者: Hubbard, Seth M.

Improving pseudo-van der Waals epitaxy of self-assembled InAs nanowires on graphene via MOCVD parameter space mapping

• DOI: 10.1039/c8ce01666f
• 发表时间: 2019-01-28
• 期刊: CRYSTENGCOMM
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Baboli, Mohadeseh A.;Slocum, Michael A.;Mohseni, Parsian K.
• 通讯作者: Mohseni, Parsian K.

Self-Assembled InAsP and lnAlAs Nanowires on Graphene Via Pseudo-Van Der Waals Epitaxy

通过伪范德华外延在石墨烯上自组装 InAsP 和 lnAlAs 纳米线

• DOI: 10.1109/nano.2018.8626308
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: 2018 IEEE 18th International Conference on Nanotechnology (IEEE-NANO
• 作者: Baboli, Mohadeseh A.;Slocum, Michael A.;Giussani, Alessandro;Hubbard, Seth M.;Mohseni, Parsian K.
• 通讯作者: Mohseni, Parsian K.