Materials 2012, 5(10), 1933-1953; doi:10.3390/ma5101933
Article

Guidelines for the Bandgap Combinations and Absorption Windows for Organic Tandem and Triple-Junction Solar Cells

Ben Minnaert* email and Peter Veelaertemail
Faculty of Applied Engineering Sciences, University College Ghent—Ghent University, Valentin Vaerwyckweg 1, Gent B-9000, Belgium
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 23 August 2012; in revised form: 8 October 2012 / Accepted: 16 October 2012 / Published: 22 October 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic Materials 2012)
PDF Full-text Download PDF Full-Text [873 KB, uploaded 22 October 2012 11:00 CEST]
Abstract: Organic solar cells have narrow absorption windows, compared to the absorption band of inorganic semiconductors. A possible way to capture a wider band of the solar spectrum—and thus increasing the power conversion efficiency—is using more solar cells with different bandgaps in a row, i.e., a multi-junction solar cell. We calculate the ideal material characteristics (bandgap combinations and absorption windows) for an organic tandem and triple-junction solar cell, as well as their acceptable range. In this way, we give guidelines to organic material designers.
Keywords: organic solar cells; modeling; tandem solar cells; triple-junction solar cells; multi-junction solar cells; power conversion efficiency; bandgap; absorption window

Article Statistics

Click here to load and display the download statistics.

Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Minnaert, B.; Veelaert, P. Guidelines for the Bandgap Combinations and Absorption Windows for Organic Tandem and Triple-Junction Solar Cells. Materials 2012, 5, 1933-1953.

AMA Style

Minnaert B, Veelaert P. Guidelines for the Bandgap Combinations and Absorption Windows for Organic Tandem and Triple-Junction Solar Cells. Materials. 2012; 5(10):1933-1953.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Minnaert, Ben; Veelaert, Peter. 2012. "Guidelines for the Bandgap Combinations and Absorption Windows for Organic Tandem and Triple-Junction Solar Cells." Materials 5, no. 10: 1933-1953.

Materials EISSN 1996-1944 Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland RSS E-Mail Table of Contents Alert