Cavity-controlled radiative recombination of excitons in thin-film solar cells

The following article appeared in Vuong, Luat T. ...[et al.]. Cavity-controlled radiative recombination of excitons in thin-film solar cells. Applied physics letters [en línia]. 2009, vol. 95 [Consulta 29/06/2010]. p. 233106-1/233106-3 and may be found at http://apl.aip.org/applab/v95/i23/p233107_s1?view=fulltext
We study the performance of photovoltaic devices when controlling the exciton radiative recombination time. We demonstrate that when high-quantum-yield fluorescent photovoltaic materials are placed within an optical cavity, the spontaneous emission of the radiative exciton is partially inhibited. The corresponding increase of the exciton lifetime results in an increase of the effective diffusion length and diffusion current. This performance maximizes when the thickness of the cell is comparable to the absorption length. We show that when typical parameter values of thin solar-cell devices are used, the efficiency may improve by as much as three times.
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Postprint (published version)