Efficiency loss prevention in monolithically integrated thin film solar cells by improved front contact

For thin film solar cells, there is a large gap between the record efficiencies and panel power output. It was found that for a “typical industrial” CIGS cell efficiency of 15.5%, the efficiency drops to 11.7% when it is operating under the circumstances of a monolithically integrated solar panel. Part of this gap is due to limited conductivity and transmittance of the front contact. By application of a metallic grid, the conductivity can be improved by over two order of magnitude at a transmittance loss of only a few percent as was shown experimentally. In addition, modeling was used to quantify the impact of such approach on the power output of monolithically integrated solar panels. This model includes optical and resistive losses, as well as related losses caused by the inhomogeneity of the operating voltage over the surface. Both power output and the different types of losses are mapped out for various cell configurations. Optimization of transparent conductive oxide resistance, cell length, finger width, and finger spacing of grids was performed and led to an efficiency improvement from 11.7% to 13.8% when the front contact is upgraded with a metallic grid consisting of 20 µm wide parallel fingers positioned perpendicular to the interconnect. Further optimization for a wide variety of cell and grid configurations show that for a technically more feasible size of 100 µm wide fingers, the calculated efficiency is still 13.5%. Finally, the power output is mapped out for a large number of configurations as to create an overview and insight in the interdependencies of cell configuration and finger dimensions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of relative humidity on current–voltage characteristics of monopolar DC wire-to-plane system

This paper deals with the DC monopolar corona discharge in wire-to-plane geometry under variable humid air conditions. The classical formulas of Townsend commonly used for the current–voltage characteristics were used to determine the various corona parameters for the both polarities of the corona discharge. A circular biased probe has been adapted to the plane and is used to measure the ground plane current density and electric field during the monopolar corona discharge. A new approach to the problem of corona discharge in transmission system has been described in this paper. The effect of varying the humidity and wires diameter is also investigated. The values of the electric field and the current density are maximum beneath the corona wire and decrease when moving away from them and the current–voltage characteristics follow the quadratic Townsend's law. The experimental results show that the monopolar corona discharge is strongly affected by the air humidity. The current density and the electric field are measured and compared with the computed values. The agreement between the calculated values and those obtained experimentally is satisfactory. The per unit electric field and current density are also represented by a unique function.     

关于开设内光电效应实验的探索与思考

介绍了开设以内光电效应为理论基础的半导体光电器件的重要性和迫切性,并详细介绍了内光电效应的理论与半导体光电器件的分类和应用前景。     

Decoupled two‐grid finite element method for the time‐dependent natural convection problem I: Spatial discretization

In this article, a decoupled two grid finite element method (FEM) is proposed and analyzed for the nonsteady natural convection problem using the coarse grid numerical solutions to decouple the nonlinear coupled terms, and the corresponding optimal error estimates are derived. Compared with the standard Galerkin FEM and the usual two‐grid FEM, our algorithm not only keeps good accuracy but also saves a lot of computational cost. Some numerical examples are provided to verify the performances of the decoupled two‐grid FEM. Both theoretical analysis and numerical experiments show the efficiency and effectiveness of the decoupled two‐grid FEM for the nonsteady natural convection problem. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 31: 2135–2168, 2015     

Numerical analysis for the mixed Navier–Stokes and Darcy Problem with the Beavers–Joseph interface condition

In this article, we consider the coupled Navier–Stokes and Darcy problem with the Beavers–Joseph interface condition. With suitable restrictions of physical parameters α and ν, we prove the existence and local uniqueness of a weak solution. Then we propose a coupled finite element scheme and a decoupled and linearized scheme based on two‐grid finite element. Under suitable further restrictions, their optimal error estimates are obtained. Finally numerical experiments indicate the validity of the theoretical results as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of the decoupled and linearized two‐grid algorithm. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 31: 1009–1030, 2015     

Effect of gate engineering in JLSRG MOSFET to suppress SCEs: An analytical study

In this work, an analytical model of gate-engineered junctionless surrounding gate MOSFET (JLSRG) has been proposed to uncover its potential benefit to suppress short-channel effects (SCEs). Analytical modelling of centre potential for gate-engineered JLSRG devices has been developed using parabolic approximation method. From the developed centre potential, the parameters like threshold voltage, surface potential, Electric Field, Drain-induced Barrier Lowering (DIBL) and subthershold swing are determined. A nice agreement between the results obtained from the model and TCAD simulation demonstrates the validity and correctness of the model. A comparative study of the efficacy to suppress SCEs for Dual-Material (DM) and Single-Material (SM) junctionless surrounding gate MOSFET of the same dimensions has also been carried out. Result indicates that TM-JLSRG devices offer a noticeable enhancement in the efficacy to suppress SCEs by as compared to SM-JLSRG and DM-JLSRG device structures. The effect of different length ratios of three channel regions related to three different gate materials of TM-JLSRG structure on the SCEs have also been discussed. As a result, we demonstrate that TM-JLSRG device can be considered as a competitive contender to the deep-submicron mainstream MOSFETs for low-power VLSI applications.     

Voltage‐Driven Reversible Insertion into and Leaving from a Lipid Bilayer: Tuning Transmembrane Transport of Artificial Channels

Three new artificial transmembrane channel molecules have been designed and synthesized by attaching positively charged Arg‐incorporated tripeptide chains to pillar[5]arene. Fluorescent and patch‐clamp experiments revealed that voltage can drive the molecules to insert into and leave from a lipid bilayer and thus switch on and off the transport of K⁺ ions. One of the molecules was found to display antimicrobial activity toward Bacillus subtilis with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of 10 μM which is comparable to that of natural channel‐forming peptide alamethicin.     

Development of a‐SiOx:H solar cells with very high Voc × FF product

In this study, deposition conditions for making a‐SiO_x:H are investigated systematically in order to obtain a high band gap material. We found that at given optical band gap, a‐SiO_x:H with favorable opto‐electronic properties can be obtained when deposited using low CO₂ flow rates and deposition pressures. We also found that a low radio frequency power density is required in order to limit the effect of ion bombardment on the material properties of i‐a‐SiO_x:H and thereby the solar cell performance. In addition, by decreasing the heater temperature from 300 to 200°C when making the i‐a‐SiO_x:H, the V_oc can be increased. We employed optimized p‐doped and n‐doped a‐SiO_x:H films into the p‐i‐n solar cells, and as a consequence, a high V_oc of over 1 V and high fill factor (FF) are obtained. When depositing on texture‐etched ZnO:Al substrates, a high efficiency a‐SiO_x:H single junction solar cell having a high V_oc × FF product of 0.761 (V_oc: 1.042 V, J_sc: 10.3 mA/cm², FF: 0.73, efficiency: 7.83%) was obtained. The a‐SiO_x:H solar cell shows comparable light degradation characteristics to standard a‐Si:H solar cells. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Moving boundary truncated grid method: Multidimensional quantum dynamics

The moving boundary truncated grid (TG) method is used to study wave packet dynamics of multidimensional quantum systems. As time evolves, appropriate Eulerian grid points required for propagating a wave packet are activated and deactivated with no advance information about the dynamics. This method is applied to the Henon-Heiles potential and wave packet barrier scattering in two, three, and four dimensions. Computational results demonstrate that the TG method not only leads to a great reduction in the number of grid points needed to perform accurate calculations but also is computationally more efficient than the full grid calculations.     

Adaptive nematic liquid crystal lens array with resistive layer

ABSTRACT

We propose an adaptive nematic liquid crystal (LC) lens array using a dielectric layer with low dielectric constant as resistive layer. With the resistive layer and periodic-arranged iridium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes, the vertical electric field across the LC layer varies linearly over the lens aperture is obtained in the voltage-on state. As a result, a centrosymmetric gradient refractive index profile within the LC layer is generated, which causes the focusing behaviour. As a result of the optimisation, a thin cell gap which greatly reduces the switching time of the LC lens array can be achieved in our design. The main advantages of the proposed LC lens array are in the comparatively low operating voltage, the flat substrate surface, the simple electrodes, and the uniform LC cell gap. The simulation results show that the focal length of the LC lens array can be tuned continuously from infinity to 3.99 mm by changing the applied voltage.