Luminescent (Er,Ho)₂O₃ thin films by ALD to enhance the performance of silicon solar cells

Abstract

<p>We have fabricated luminescent (Er,Ho)<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> thin films by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and studied their capability to enhance the performance of state-of-the-art single-junction c-Si bifacial solar cells. The films convert IR photons (e.g. 1523 nm) by three- and two-photon upconversion process to emit visible-light in the 400–700 nm range. When the films were coupled with solar cells, ~3% improvement in the short-circuit current density (620 ± 5 to 638 ± 5 mAcm<sup>−2</sup>) was recorded under a simulated solar excitation equivalent to 16 suns. These findings highlight a potential of ALD for the design and fabrication of luminescent coatings for practical solar cell devices.</p>