TY - GEN
T1 - The Role of Spectrum in Encapsulated Bifacial Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cell Carrier Loss
AU - Tonita, Erin M.
AU - Valdivia, Christopher E.
AU - Bertoni, Mariana I.
AU - Hinzer, Karin
N1 - Funding Information:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors thank CMC Microsystems and the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for their funding support [NSERC CREATE 497981, NSERC STPGP 521894, NSERC CGS-D]. We would also like to thank 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 IEEE.
PY - 2021/6/20
Y1 - 2021/6/20
N2 - The effect of encapsulant on solar cell performance is widely understood to decrease overall cell power output due to absorption in encapsulating layers. In this work, we quantify the effect of encapsulation across the solar spectrum for high-efficiency bifacial silicon heterojunction solar cells in Synopsys TCAD Sentaurus to determine whether encapsulation causes a significant deviation in current loss trends compared to bare cells. Bare and encapsulated cells are modelled between 300-1200 nm and for air masses (AMs) between 1 and 10.0. Comparing current densities relative to bare cells for front illumination, encapsulation results in a 4.3% increase in parasitic absorption under AM1 illumination, and a 3.9% increase at AM10 as a consequence of the red-shift under higher AM. Despite spectral effects influencing current loss, trends of efficiency with AM are the same for bare and encapsulated cells, peaking around AM5. Encapsulated efficiency is decreased by 1.40 ± 0.02 % abs. compared to bare cells between AM1-10. Thus, while carrier transport is influenced by encapsulation in a wavelength-dependent manner, the overall effect on cell efficiency is a uniform offset for all spectra considered.
AB - The effect of encapsulant on solar cell performance is widely understood to decrease overall cell power output due to absorption in encapsulating layers. In this work, we quantify the effect of encapsulation across the solar spectrum for high-efficiency bifacial silicon heterojunction solar cells in Synopsys TCAD Sentaurus to determine whether encapsulation causes a significant deviation in current loss trends compared to bare cells. Bare and encapsulated cells are modelled between 300-1200 nm and for air masses (AMs) between 1 and 10.0. Comparing current densities relative to bare cells for front illumination, encapsulation results in a 4.3% increase in parasitic absorption under AM1 illumination, and a 3.9% increase at AM10 as a consequence of the red-shift under higher AM. Despite spectral effects influencing current loss, trends of efficiency with AM are the same for bare and encapsulated cells, peaking around AM5. Encapsulated efficiency is decreased by 1.40 ± 0.02 % abs. compared to bare cells between AM1-10. Thus, while carrier transport is influenced by encapsulation in a wavelength-dependent manner, the overall effect on cell efficiency is a uniform offset for all spectra considered.
KW - air mass
KW - bifacial photovoltaics
KW - carrier transport
KW - encapsulant
KW - optoelectronic device modelling
KW - recombination
KW - silicon heterojunction
KW - spectrum
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85112659382&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/PVSC43889.2021.9519009
DO - 10.1109/PVSC43889.2021.9519009
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85112659382
T3 - Conference Record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
SP - 1080
EP - 1083
BT - 2021 IEEE 48th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2021
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 48th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2021
Y2 - 20 June 2021 through 25 June 2021
ER -