Edge Illuminated Epitaxial Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract

The presented work reports on epitaxialy grown silicon structures with p-n junction designed for fabrication an edge illuminated solar cells. In this kind of photovoltaic devices sun-light illuminates directly a p-n junction through the edge of the structure. The edge-illuminated PV cell can cooperate with a luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) consisted of a polymer foil doped with a luminescent material. The main motivation of presented work is diminishing the silicon consumption in PV panels. We have proposed a new concept of edge illuminated solar cells based on silicon epitaxial technique. The technological factors affecting the cells I-V characteristics and efficiency are discussed.