Photovoltaic device physics on the nanoscale

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) device physics on the mesoscopic scale combines quantum effects and ultrafast phenomena over several “units” of the device-quantum structures (QSs) or absorber-contact combinations-to merge into a classical macroscopic device behavior like a conventional p-i-n solar cell. Much about the energy band picture of QSs can be learned from their inverse counterpart as light-emitting and laser diodes based on superlattices (SLs). Other concepts like the intermediate band (IB) or hot carrier (HC) solar cells are in principle macroscopic devices, though they can be arguably realized best by QSs. Although hot carrier solar cells are based on ultrafast carrier dynamics combining suppressed cooling of generated excitons with very fast energy-selective carrier extraction, their device physics can be described in large part by classical semiconductor physics.