InGaN For Solar Photovoltaic Applications
This defect tolerance, together with a good spectral match to sunlight, makes InGaN suitable for solar cells. It is possible to grow multiple layers with different bandgaps, as the material is relatively insensitive to defects introduced by a lattice mismatch between the layers. A two-layer multijunction cell with bandgaps of 1.1 eV and 1.7 eV can attain a theoretical 50% maximum efficiency, and by depositing multiple layers tuned to a wide range of bandgaps an efficiency up to 70% is theoretically expected.
Significant photoresponse was obtained from experimental InGaN single-junction devices. In addition to controlling the optical properties, which results in band gap engineering, photovoltaic device performance can be improved by engineering the microstructure of the material to increase the optical path length and provide light trapping. Growing nanocolumns on the device can further result in resonant interaction with light, and InGaN nanocolumns have been successfully deposited on SiO2 using plasma enhanced evaporation.
Read more about this topic: Indium Gallium Nitride
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