p⁺ poly-Si(O_x) passivating contacts for double-side textured c-Si solar cell

Silicon solar cells account for about 95% of the total photovoltaic market share. Poly-Si passivating contacts are promising techniques enabling high performance c-Si solar cells with conversion efficiency over 26.0%. The highly absorptive nature of poly-Si materials makes the transparent passivating contacts attractive, such as poly-Si(O<sub>x<...

The Backend Processes Evaluation of Poly-Si(O_𝑥) Solar Cells: From TCO to Metallization

In recent decades, there has been increasing concern about the impact of climate change on the earth. Various countries are actively developing sustainable energy technologies, of which solar cell is one of the new energy sources with the most attention. This thesis is based on poly−Si(O_x) cells consisting of SiO_x/poly−Si(O...

Wave Optics Simulation of Subwavelength Structures within Solar Cells: Integration of RCWA with GenPro4

To further improve the light management and optical performance of solar cells, research into nano-textured interfaces has led to a need for a fast and accurate wave optics model. Currently, within the PVMD group at the TU Delft an optical solar cell simulation tool, GenPro4, is being developed to allow for the quick optimization and analysis of...

Study of Charge Carrier Dynamics in Methylammonium Lead Iodide with Electron and Hole Transport Layer under Bias Light

Perovskite solar cell s(PSC) has seen a huge increase in its efficiency, since its introduction in 2009, to 25.5% in 2021.d been introduced in 2009 and had seen a huge increase in their efficiency since then. Improving the perovskite–charge transport layer interface and charge extraction can increase the open circuit voltage (Voc) and thereby...

Dimmable fenestration and incorporated photovoltaic design: Smart Window design with PDLC and AL-BSF cells

The built environment contributes with 39% of the CO2 emissions in the world [3]. At the same time it is a sector that is expected to grow from US$10.9 trillion (2017) to US$12.9 trillion (2022) [4]. A sector with such an economic growth but with a negative environmental impact needs to innovate in order to reduce its carbon footprint. These are...

Development of Silicon-rich poly-Silicon Carbide passivating contacts for solar cells

Carrier-selective passivating contacts (CSPC) are one of the most promising silicon solar cell contact structures. These contacts enable the passivation of the silicon surface as well as a high carrier selectivity. So far excellent results have been demonstrated with the use of poly-Si in stack with SiO2. In this work, we optimize an alternative...

Contact Stack Evaluation for SHJ Solar Cells and Process Development of IBC-SHJ Solar Cells

Nowadays, silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cell is one of the most promising photovoltaic technologies thanks to the outstanding passivation quality from the a-Si:H layers. Together with the interdigitated-back-contacted (IBC) architecture, it enables the highest efficient, 26.7%, single junction c-Si solar cell. However, the mass production...

Reliable and low cost global, direct and diffuse irradiance monitoring tool for accurate yield predictions

Solar energy is the most promising source for electricity generation, the photovoltaic installed capacity has grown exponentially in the last years. The scale of these systems can be from households to energy plants, all systems have in common the need of a monitoring system that can determine if the system is performing correctly or it needs...

Three Dimensional Back Reflector for Solar Cells

Two dimensional plasmonic back reflectors have shown the ability to match the<br/>scattering performance of standard back reflectors. However, three dimensional<br/>plasmonic structures have not yet been thoroughly investigated. Here, the scat-<br/>tering properties of a 3D plasmonic structure are approached at three levels of<br/>system. First,...

Spin coating of Silver Nanoparticles and Silicon quantum dots for enhanced down conversion efficiency

The commercial efficiency of a c-Si solar cell is ~18% although the thermodynamic limit is ~95%. This indicates a good scope for improvements. The major loss mechanism in a solar cell is spectral mismatch which is contributed to by non-absorption of low energy photons and thermalization of high energy photons. In this thesis, it is sought to...

Mechanical Aspects of Wafer-Based Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

The mechanical aspects of wafer-based crystalline silicon solar cells were investigated for cell bowing and mechanical strength. The cell bowing was investigated as a result of a silver or aluminium metallization layer applied for different production parameters. The residual stresses were calculated using a finite element (FE) model validated...

Detailed efficiency characterisation of Lu2O3:Eu3+ thin film luminescent solar concentrators: An analytic and experimental light transport study

The worldwide struggle to renew the human energy supply to high environmental friendly standards has led to creative and innovative solutions for the supply of `green' energy. The financial benefits of conventional energy sources restrain the widespread use of renewable energy sources, like wind or solar energy. This competition requires...

Understanding Uc-Si:H solar cell performance and its optimization using modeling

In recent times, thin-film solar cells have gained a lot of attention. This can be attributed to the low material cost as well as its low energy consumption. The micromorph solar cell configuration consisting of a top amorphous silicon cell and a bottom microcrystalline silicon cell has proved to be one of the promising approaches in thin-film...