An efficient light converter YAB:Cr3+,Yb3+/Nd3+ with broadband excitation and strong NIR emission for harvesting c-Si-based solar cells

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Liu, Pujun Zheng, Xiao Luo, Hongde Li, Xiaoqing Yao, Zhiling Yu, Xibin Shi, Xiumeng Hou, Binghu Xia, Yusheng
Copyright Year	2014
Abstract	Highly efficient Cr3+- and Yb3+/Nd3+-co-activated YAl3(BO3)4 (YAB) phosphors have been developed as spectral convertors for improving silicon solar cell photovoltaic conversion efficiency. In the YAB lattice, Cr3+ ions act as broadband spectral sensitizers by absorbing UV-Vis (370–750 nm) photons, which are not absorbed by the silicon solar cell. After energy transfer, the Yb3+ acceptors then exhibit strong NIR emission centered at around 1000 nm, which is coupled well with the absorption band of the silicon solar cell. Efficient energy transfer is reflected by a sharp decrease in the excited state lifetime and red photoluminescence (PL) from Cr3+ with increasing Yb3+ concentration. Further evidence in favor of energy transfer is that PL-excitation spectra of NIR luminescence from Yb3+ are identical to those of deep red emission from Cr3+. Trivalent ions Gd3+, Bi3+ and La3+ have been introduced into YAl3(BO3)4:Cr3+,Yb3+ in this study for a stronger NIR PL intensity. Additionally, energy transfer from Cr3+ to Nd3+ is also observed. Yb3+,Nd3+-co-activated YAB shows much broader NIR emission. Due to the effective absorption of Cr3+ in the visible region in YAB and the efficient energy transfer to Yb3+/Nd3+, these materials can be developed as spectral convertors to improve silicon solar cell photovoltaic conversion efficiency.
Starting Page	5769
Ending Page	5777
Page Count	9
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
DOI	10.1039/C4TC00482E
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/getauthorversionpdf/C4TC00482E
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://doi.org/10.1039/C4TC00482E
Volume Number	2
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article