Identifying optimal photovoltaic technologies for underwater applications
Jason A. Röhr,
B. Edward Sartor,
Joel N. Duenow,
Zilun Qin,
Juan Meng,
Jason Lipton,
Stephen A. Maclean,
Udo Römer,
Michael P. Nielsen,
Suling Zhao,
Jaemin Kong,
Matthew O. Reese,
Myles A. Steiner,
N.J. Ekins-Daukes,
André D. Taylor
Affiliations
Jason A. Röhr
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA; Corresponding author
B. Edward Sartor
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
Joel N. Duenow
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401, USA
Zilun Qin
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA; Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Optical Information, Beijing Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100044, China
Juan Meng
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA; Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Optical Information, Beijing Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100044, China
Jason Lipton
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
Stephen A. Maclean
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
Udo Römer
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Michael P. Nielsen
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Suling Zhao
Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Optical Information, Beijing Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100044, China
Jaemin Kong
Department of Physics, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province 52828, Republic of Korea; Heeger Center for Advanced Materials and Research Institute for Solar and Sustainable Energies, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea
Matthew O. Reese
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401, USA
Myles A. Steiner
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401, USA
N.J. Ekins-Daukes
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
André D. Taylor
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA; Corresponding author
Summary: Improving solar energy collection in aquatic environments would allow for superior environmental monitoring and remote sensing, but the identification of optimal photovoltaic technologies for such applications is challenging as evaluation requires either field deployment or access to large water tanks. Here, we present a simple bench-top characterization technique that does not require direct access to water and therefore circumvents the need for field testing during initial trials of development. Employing LEDs to simulate underwater solar spectra at various depths, we compare Si and CdTe solar cells, two commercially available technologies, with GaInP cells, a technology with a wide bandgap close to ideal for underwater solar harvesting. We use this method to show that while Si cells outperform both CdTe and GaInP cells under terrestrial AM1.5G solar irradiance, CdTe and GaInP cells outperform Si cells at depths >2 m, with GaInP cells operating with underwater efficiencies approaching 54%.
