Enhancing crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells by long persistent SrAl2O4:(Eu2+, Dy3+) phosphors

Abstract

Enhancing the conversion efficiency of silicon heterojunction solar cells by the spectral conversion of long persistent SrAl₂O₄:(Eu²⁺, Dy³⁺) (SAO) phosphors is presented. The phosphors can not only convert short-wavelength photons to long-wavelength photons, but also convert long-wavelength photons to short-wavelength photons. This makes them able to improve simultaneously the utilization of ultraviolet light and infrared light. The averaged conversion efficiency of the solar cells increases 0.313 % after packaging with ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) containing 3 % concentration of the phosphors. Compared with the solar cells packaged without the phosphors, the conversion efficiency increases 0.19 %, 0.255 % and 0.085 % in three wavelength bands 200–500 nm, 500–1220 nm and 1220–1800 nm, respectively.