Limiting efficiencies of solar energy conversion and photo-detection via internal emission of hot electrons and hot holes in gold

Svetlana V. Boriskina; Jiawei Zhou; Wei-Chun Hsu; Bolin Liao; Gang Chen

doi:10.1117/12.2189678

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1 September 2015 Limiting efficiencies of solar energy conversion and photo-detection via internal emission of hot electrons and hot holes in gold

Svetlana V. Boriskina, Jiawei Zhou, Wei-Chun Hsu, Bolin Liao, Gang Chen

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Proceedings Volume 9608, Infrared Remote Sensing and Instrumentation XXIII; 960816 (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2189678
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2015, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We evaluate the limiting efficiency of full and partial solar spectrum harvesting via the process of internal photoemission in Au-semiconductor Schottky junctions. Our results based on the ab initio calculations of the electron density of states (e-DOS) reveal that the limiting efficiency of the full-spectrum Au converter based on hot electron injection is below 4%. This value is even lower than previously established limit based on the parabolic approximation of the Au electron energy bands. However, we predict limiting efficiency exceeding 10% for the hot holes collection through the Schottky junction between Au and p-type semiconductor. Furthermore, we demonstrate that such converters have more potential if used as a part of the hybrid system for harvesting high- and low-energy photons of the solar spectrum.

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Svetlana V. Boriskina, Jiawei Zhou, Wei-Chun Hsu, Bolin Liao, and Gang Chen "Limiting efficiencies of solar energy conversion and photo-detection via internal emission of hot electrons and hot holes in gold", Proc. SPIE 9608, Infrared Remote Sensing and Instrumentation XXIII, 960816 (1 September 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2189678

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