TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of air mass on carrier losses in bifacial silicon heterojunction solar cells
AU - Tonita, Erin M.
AU - Valdivia, Christopher E.
AU - Martinez-Szewczyk, Michael
AU - Lewis, Mandy R.
AU - Bertoni, Mariana I.
AU - Hinzer, Karin
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of CMC Microsystems and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [ NSERC CREATE 497981 , NSERC STPGP 521894 , NSERC CGS-D ]. Work at ASU was supported by the Engineering Research Center Program of the National Science Foundation and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the Department of Energy under NSF Cooperative Agreement [No. EEC1041895 ].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors
PY - 2021/9/15
Y1 - 2021/9/15
N2 - We investigate the effect of incident spectra on current loss as a function of depth and voltage into high efficiency textured bifacial silicon heterojunction solar cells. We integrate thin-film ellipsometry measurements with a 3D optical model and a 2D electronic model and validate our model with measurements of external quantum efficiency and Suns-Voc. For front illumination at normal incidence, an increasing air mass of AM1.5 to 10 reduces current density loss due to parasitic absorption in ITO and a-Si:H from 8.1% to 4.0%, and increases recombination loss at maximum power from 4.2% to 4.7%, resulting in an overall increase in collected current (88.2% to 90.5%). Cell performance metrics are summarized as a function of air mass, with efficiency peaking at AM5.0 for front illuminated and rear illuminated cells with an albedo of unity. We further demonstrate the impact of spectra on bifacial efficiency by calculating rear-side performance with the spectral albedo of dry grass. Overall, current-collection and efficiency trends emphasize the importance of considering spectral effects in energy yield models. These results are of particular importance for cell structures with high bifaciality and significant spectral albedo contributions, locations with large proportions of diffuse light, and high air mass locations as in mid-to-high latitudes.
AB - We investigate the effect of incident spectra on current loss as a function of depth and voltage into high efficiency textured bifacial silicon heterojunction solar cells. We integrate thin-film ellipsometry measurements with a 3D optical model and a 2D electronic model and validate our model with measurements of external quantum efficiency and Suns-Voc. For front illumination at normal incidence, an increasing air mass of AM1.5 to 10 reduces current density loss due to parasitic absorption in ITO and a-Si:H from 8.1% to 4.0%, and increases recombination loss at maximum power from 4.2% to 4.7%, resulting in an overall increase in collected current (88.2% to 90.5%). Cell performance metrics are summarized as a function of air mass, with efficiency peaking at AM5.0 for front illuminated and rear illuminated cells with an albedo of unity. We further demonstrate the impact of spectra on bifacial efficiency by calculating rear-side performance with the spectral albedo of dry grass. Overall, current-collection and efficiency trends emphasize the importance of considering spectral effects in energy yield models. These results are of particular importance for cell structures with high bifaciality and significant spectral albedo contributions, locations with large proportions of diffuse light, and high air mass locations as in mid-to-high latitudes.
KW - Bifacial photovoltaics
KW - Carrier transport
KW - Optoelectronic modelling
KW - Recombination
KW - Solar spectrum
KW - Spectral albedo
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U2 - 10.1016/j.solmat.2021.111293
DO - 10.1016/j.solmat.2021.111293
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85112633543
SN - 0927-0248
VL - 230
JO - Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
JF - Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
M1 - 111293
ER -