Pre-thermalizational impact of hot carriers on photovoltage formation in a single junction solar cell

Abstract

The aim of this presentation is to convince the Photovoltaic Community that hot carriers, prior to their thermalization, do participate in the total photovoltage formation and make direct harm to the efficiency of a p-n junction solar cell. In our research, we propose a novel approach to the understanding of the photovoltage which is a composition of three components resulting from three phenomena: carrier generation, carrier heating and lattice heating. Moreover, we remove the spectral limitation of the Shockley-Queisser theory from the infrared range. Three points need to be concluded. First, hot carrier photovoltage is present at the formation of the photoresponse across a p-n junction. Second, maximum minimization of the HCPV may raise the efficiency of a single-junction solar cell. Third, if the Shockley–Queisser theory were revised by taking into account the direct negative impact of the hot carriers, the achieved practical solar cell efficiency will be closer to the lowered theoretical limit.