SBIR Phase I: Highly Luminescent Manganese-Doped Zinc Selenide Quantum Dots to Enhance Silicon Solar Cell Efficiency through Spectral Down-Conversion

这个小型企业技术研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将展示一种基于金属离子掺杂纳米晶体量子点的光谱下变频器，以提高多晶硅太阳能电池的效率。几十年来，人们尝试在半导体太阳能电池中添加发光光谱下转换层，以将太阳光谱中低于500 nm的低效利用的光转移到更长的波长，因为预测的相对效率提高了10%-20%，这是一个非常显著的改进。由于对发射覆盖层的非常高的性能要求，还没有产生实用的器件。掺锰的亚硒化锌纳米粒子在500 nm以上几乎没有吸收，但在600 nm附近的单个波段有很高的发光效率，从而消除了光学滤波和发光重吸收。本项目的目的是评估这种材料--S作为一种实用的光谱下变频器的潜力。这包括使用溶液数据作为输入的建模计算、使用液体储液器下变频器和太阳能电池测量实际性能增益、以及制备浓缩的薄膜固体薄膜及其光物理评估。然后就可以确定集成薄膜下变频器/太阳能电池模块的预期效率收益。多晶硅太阳能电池效率的更广泛影响/商业潜力是非常困难和昂贵的，因为多晶硅太阳能电池是一项成熟的技术。然而，考虑到它们目前和预期增加的利用率，提高它们的性能的优势潜在地是巨大的，无论是商业上还是社会上。因此，效率提高10%(相对)将产生巨大的商业影响，特别是如果它可以从相当简单和廉价的附加层获得的话。

This Small Business Technology Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate a spectral down-converter based on metal ion-doped nanocrystalline quantum dots to increase the efficiency of polycrystalline silicon solar cells. Attempts to add a luminescent spectral down-conversion layer to semiconductor solar cells to shift inefficiently-utilized light below 500 nm in the solar spectrum to longer wavelength have been made over several decades because of predicted relative efficiency gains of 10-20%, a very significant improvement. No practical device has resulted because of the very high performance requirements for the emissive over-layer. Manganese-doped zinc selenide nanoparticles exhibit little absorption longer than 500 nm, yet luminescence with high efficiency in a single band near 600 nm, thus eliminating both optical filtering and luminescence reabsorption. The objective of this project is to evaluate this material?s potential to be a practical spectral down-converter. This involves modeling calculations using solution data as input, measurement of actual performance gains using liquid-reservoir down-converter plus solar cell, and preparation of concentrated thin solid films and their photophysical evaluation. It will then be possible to determine the efficiency gains that can be expected from an integrated thin-film down-converter/solar cell module.The broader impacts/commercial potential of even small improvements in the efficiency of polycrystalline silicon solar cells, which represents a mature technology are very difficult and costly to realize. Yet the advantages of improving their performance is potentially enormous, both commercial and societal, given their current and anticipated increased utilization. Therefore a gain in efficiency on the order of 10% (relative) would have a large commercial impact, especially if it can be obtained from a fairly simple and inexpensive add-on layer."This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."