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Phosphors, Up Conversion Nano Particles, Quantum Dots and Their Applications pp 139–166Cite as

Rare Earth Solar Spectral Convertor for Si Solar Cells

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Abstract

The goal of current energy policy worldwide is to develop clean renewable energy capable of powering the world household and economy, now and in the future. Photovoltaics (PV) is an advanced technique that can directly convert clear and sustainable solar energy into electricity, which makes it a promising candidate for achieving this goal. Currently, PV devices fabricated from silicon (Si) wafers dominate the marketplace. Unfortunately, current silicon-based PV products are expensive and suffer poor efficiency when converting solar energy to electricity. The mismatch between the solar photon flux spectrum and the spectral response of Si solar cells is one of the main drawbacks greatly limiting the power energy efficiency of Si solar cell. In recent years, rare earth-activated luminescent materials, which are capable of converting lights of higher energy into near-infrared (NIR) photons of lower energy by means of downshifting (DS) and downconverting (DC), have been designed and systematically investigated with aim to minimize the charge thermalization of Si solar cell in the process of photoelectric conversion. In this review, we will survey recent progress in the development of such kinds of rare earth solar spectral converters for Si solar cells as well as rare earth-converted Si solar cells (REC-Si solar cells). In addition, future challenges of these rare earth solar spectral converters will be briefly discussed toward REC-Si solar cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Wang, Xuejie Zhang & Qiang Su

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  1. Jing Wang
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  2. Xuejie Zhang
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  3. Qiang Su
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Correspondence to Jing Wang .

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  1. Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University Department of Chemistry, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ru-Shi Liu

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Wang, J., Zhang, X., Su, Q. (2016). Rare Earth Solar Spectral Convertor for Si Solar Cells. In: Liu, RS. (eds) Phosphors, Up Conversion Nano Particles, Quantum Dots and Their Applications. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1590-8_5

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