Rare-earth ions doped glasses based on TeO2 and GeO2 with and without nanoparticles used as cover to increase Si solar cell performance: A review of recent results

Abstract

The search for new materials to improve the efficiency of the light electricity conversion process of photovoltaic devices has grown in the last years. As there is always a mismatch between Si solar cell absorption and the solar spectrum, the use of luminescent materials as cover layer represents an alternative to overcome this problem. In this context the down and upconversion processes together with the plasmonic effects of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) to improve the luminescence of the materials play an important role. A review of recent works with glasses prepared with the melt quenching technique, used to increase the performance of photovoltaic devices due their luminescence is presented. So we present results of glasses based on GeO2 and TeO2 doped with rare-earth ions whose luminescence growth due to crystalline NPs (Ag or Au) or dielectric ones as TiO2, crystallized in anatase phase, increased the photovoltaic efficiency of up to 18%. Moreover, the influence of the rare-earth ions concentration on the efficiency increase in samples without NPs is also reviewed. The contribution of the transmittance of the material is highlighted as it also plays an important role to understand the enhancement of the Si solar cell performance.

Keywords

• Glasses
• Lanthanide
• Photovoltaic devices
• Luminescent materials