Espinet-Gonzalez, Pilar

DOE OSTI2021

Multijunction solar cells with graded buffer Bragg reflectors

Distributed Bragg reflectors are incorporated into the compositionally graded buffers of metamorphic solar cells, adding functionality to the buffer without adding cost. The reflection aids in collection in subcells that are optically thin due to low diffusion length, high bulk recombination, radiation hardness, partially-absorbing quantum structures, or simply for cost savings. Performance enhancements are demonstrated in GaAs subcells with QWs, which is beneficial when GaAs is not the ideal bandgap.

France, Ryan Matthew↗

DOE OSTI2021

Irradiation Experiments on High Efficiency Nanowire Solar Cells Including Tilted Incidence Angle

Nanowire based solar cells have promising potential to become the next generation of space solar cells. In this study we corroborate their high radiation tolerance by irradiating high efficiency GaAs (efficiency > 15 %) nanowire solar cells with 1 MeV electrons at a fluence of 10 16 e - /cm 2 . Additionally, we theoretically show that the damage in nanowire solar cells is expected to be slightly dependent on the incidence angle and the geometry of the nanowire array. However, experimentally, two sets of GaAs nanowire solar cells have been irradiated with 1 MeV electrons at normal incidence and with a 25° tilted angle exhibiting a similar degradation.

high specific power↗