Multi-Scale Particle-Based Simulation of Disordered/Ordered Interfaces for High Efficiency Solar Cells

该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助。0933838Honsberg太阳能电池的成本必须降低两倍才能实现电网均衡。有许多新技术可以实现这一目标，包括先进的硅、薄膜(CdTe或CIGS)、有机太阳能电池，或者从长远来看，纳米结构光伏。这些系统之间的一个共同点是，控制设备性能的无序/有序接口上的传输机制占主导地位。现有的建模程序和方法没有对这种效应进行建模，需要基于粒子的方法，例如蒙特卡罗建模，它可以适应跳跃传输、复合和光电子过程。此外，光伏应用所需的长时间尺度使计算变得复杂，因此多尺度方法至关重要。这个项目的目标是开发一种新的建模方法来模拟和理解材料和界面，其中？跳跃？传输控制着传输和复合，然后通过实验验证和展示匹配和预测新型太阳能电池行为的能力。这项研究将优化两个具体的实验系统(a-Si/Si和有机/Si)，并展示在这些界面上实现传输和低复合的能力。未来的目标是将该工具用于其他太阳能电池方法和材料。该提议具有几个科学新颖性作为其智力优势。一项科学进展是发展了一种基于多尺度粒子的蒙特卡罗方法，适用于模拟无序/有序材料界面。对这些界面的理解将被用来建立a-S/硅和有机/硅界面的少子寿命模拟曲线和实验曲线之间的匹配，然后基于这些界面来开发优化的太阳电池。除了新的模型，最后的科学进展是确定利用这种理解控制界面和改进太阳能电池演示的方法，并允许开发新的太阳能电池结构。该项目具有重大而广泛的影响。首先，它解决了一系列新的太阳能电池方法的限制问题，从现有的商业设备到新的纳米结构、有机或染料敏化设备，允许新的、更高效率和更低成本的光伏方法。此外，除了为参与该项目的研究生提供研究培训外，它还将提供独特的教育机会。不同小组的合作将通过一个关于光伏的课程正式确定，该课程结合了不同小组的观点和专业知识。合作将带来一个简化的？蒙特卡罗模拟器，可以可视化这种复杂结构中的输运。它将被添加到由私人投资促进机构开发的现有光伏教育网站上，该网站每天吸引约1,000人访问。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).0933838HonsbergThe cost of solar cells must be reduced by a factor of two in order to achieve grid parity. There are a number of new technologies which can achieve this goal, including advanced silicon, thin film (CdTe or CIGS), organic solar cells, or, in the longer term, nanostructured photovoltaics. A commonality among these systems is the predominance of transport mechanisms across disordered/ordered interfaces that control the device performance. Existing modeling programs and approaches do not model such effects, requiring a particle-based approach such as Monte-Carlo modeling, which can accommodate hopping transport, recombination, and opto-electronic processes. In addition, the calculations are complicated by the long time scales required for photovoltaic applications, making a multiscale approach essential. The goal of this project is to develop a novel modeling approach to simulating and understanding materials and interfaces where ?hopping? transport controls the transport and recombination, and then experimentally verify and demonstrate the ability to match and predict behavior of novel solar cells. The research will optimize two specific experimental systems (a-Si/Si and organic/Si) and demonstrate the ability to achieve both transport and low recombination across such interfaces. Future goals are to use the tool for other solar cell approaches and materials.The proposal has several scientific novelties as its intellectual merits. One scientific advance is the development of a multi-scale particle-based, Monte Carlo approach suitable for modeling disordered/ordered material interfaces. The improved understanding of these interfaces will be used to develop a match between simulated and experimental minority carrier lifetime curves of a-S/Si and organic/Si interfaces, and then develop optimized solar cells based on these interfaces. In addition to new models, the final scientific advances are to identify approaches to controlling the interface and demonstration of improved solar cells using this understanding, and allowing development of novel solar cell structures. The project has substantial broader impacts. First, it addresses a limiting issue for a range of novel solar cell approaches, from existing commercial devices to novel nanostructured, organic or dye-sensitized devices, allowing new, higher efficiency and lower cost photovoltaic approaches. In addition, it will provide unique educational opportunities beyond the research training afforded to the graduate student involved with the project. The collaboration of different groups will be formalized through a class on photovoltaics, which combines the viewpoints and expertise of the different groups. The collaboration will result in a ?simplified? Monte Carlo simulator that allows visualization of the transport in such complex structures. It will be added to the existing photovoltaic educational website developed by the PIs, which attracts about 1,000 visits a day.