Lattice battery solar cells: Exceeding Shockley–Queisser limit

A revolutionary concept of lattice battery solar cell (LBSC) is proposed to leap the conversion efficiency by inherently eliminating two major energy losses of conventional solar cells, namely hot carriers and non-absorption of the substantial near infrared (NIR) emission. In an LBSC, hot phonon emission will be saved into lattice energy reservoir (LER) through electron–lattice coupling; NIR solar emission is harvested by an NIR-perovskite composition. The NIR-generated carriers are upconverted to the conduction band of perovskites driven by LER. The theoretical efficiency of LBSCs is estimated to be over 70%, significantly exceeding the Shockley–Queisser limit. In addition, LBSCs have lower operational temperature, resulting in much improved stability due to the elimination of heating sources from hot carriers. Different from the existing multijunction solar cells, LBSCs will keep the single layer structure with low-cost fabrication. Therefore, LBSCs could perfectly satisfy the golden triangle of solar cell performance, which prospects great competitive advantage for further commercialization.