| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/N35434/01 |
| Title: |
STRAIN-BALANCED QUANTUM WELL SOLAR CELLS FOR TANDEM AND CONCENTRATOR APPLICATIONS |
| Principal Investigator: |
Barnham, Professor K |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Department: |
Physics |
| Organisation: |
Imperial College London |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
01 June 2000 |
Ends: |
31 July 2003 |
Value (£): |
265,567
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Materials Characterisation |
Materials Processing |
| Materials Synthesis & Growth |
Solar Technology |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| Electronics |
Energy |
| No relevance to Underpinning Sectors |
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| Panel History: |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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Our earlier work has shown that quantum wells can enhance significantly the efficiency of solar cells in lattice matched systems. However, in the case of high efficiency GaAs cells there are no suitable lattice matched materials to form the wells. we have also shown that the strain due to the lattice mismatch in the GaAs/InGaAs system means that only a restricted number of wells can be incorporated in a practical I-region. The understanding we have gained means we are in a position to develop a novel approach, namely the strain-balanced GaAsP/GaAs/InGaAs cell. We have recently demonstrated, for the first time in a GaAs/InGaAs quantum well solar cell, current enhancement sufficient to compensate for the voltage loss. We aim to optimise this cell for tandem applications in collaboration with Marconi Applied Technologies the leading European space cell company, who are currently supporting a CASe student on this project. Material quality input will be provided by the University of Lecce, Italy, with whom we are enjoying a productive collaboration. Our calculations show that were our first non-optimised, Sb-QWC incorporated in a GaInP/GaAs tandem with an active Ge substrate it would achieve an AMO efficiency around 29.1%. the current world record is 27.1%.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.imperial.ac.uk |