Rei Ruud Schropp

Er3+/Yb3+ upconverters for InGaP solar cells under concentrated broadband illumination

The inability of solar cell materials to convert all incident photon energy into electrical current, provides a fundamental limit to the solar cell efficiency; the so called Shockley-Queisser (SQ) limit. A process termed upconversion provides a pathway to convert otherwise unabsorbed low energy photons passing through the solar cell into higher energy photons, which subsequently can be redirected back to the solar cell. The combination of a semi-transparent InGaP solar cell with lanthanide upconverters, consisting of ytterbium and erbium ions doped in three different host materials (Gd2O2S, Y2O3 and NaYF4) is investigated. Using sub-band gap light of wavelength range 890 nm to 1045 nm with a total accumulated power density of 2.7 kW m(-2), a distinct photocurrent was measured in the solar cell when the upconverters were applied whereas a zero current was measured without upconverter. Furthermore, a time delay between excitation and emission was observed for all upconverter systems which can be explained by energy transfer upconversion. Also, a quadratic dependence on the illumination intensity was observed for the NaYF4 and Y2O3 host material upconverters. The Gd2O2S host material upconverter deviated from the quadratic illumination intensity dependence towards linear behaviour, which can be attributed to saturation effects occurring at higher illumination power densities.

Gas phase synthesis of two ensembles of silicon nanoparticles

Dusty plasmas provide a very favorable environment for the growth of silicon nanocrystals. For application of silicon nanocrystals in a solar cell, the fabrication of monodisperse silicon quantum dots has been challenging. We report a single step method to synthesize silicon (Si) nanoparticles in a custom designed dedicated plasma reactor. The nanoparticles produced in the gas phase belong to two different phases exhibiting different structural and optical properties. Particles made in the bulk of the plasma are aggregates of crystalline particles with a mean size of 100 nm. Particles made in locally enhanced plasma regions produced at holes present in the grounded electrode contain free-standing quantum sized particles with crystallites (with mean size of 2.95 nm) embedded within an amorphous matrix. We provide insight on different plasma processes leading to the formation of aggregates and free-standing particles. We hypothesize that the free standing particles are formed due to the excess energetic electrons present in locally enhanced discharges.