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Space-separated quantum cutting with silicon nanocrystals for photovoltaic applications

Nature Photonics volume 2, pages 105–109 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

For optimal energy conversion in photovoltaic devices (electricity to and from light) one important requirement is that the full energy of the photons is used. However, in solar cells, a single electron–hole pair of specific energy is generated when the incoming photon energy is above a certain threshold, with the excess energy being lost to heat. In the so-called quantum-cutting process, a high-energy photon can be divided into two, or more, photons of lower energy. Such manipulation of photon quantum size can then very effectively increase the overall efficiency of a device. In the current work, we demonstrate (space-separated) photon cutting by silicon nanocrystals, in which nearby Er3+ ions and neighbouring nanocrystals are used to detect this effect.

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Figure 1: Space-separated quantum cutting in an erbium–silicon NC system.
Figure 2: Space-separated quantum cutting between silicon NCs.
Figure 3: Nearest-neighbour distance distribution.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the contribution of M. Fujii, Kobe University, for sample preparation and characterization, and R. Sprik, W.J. Buma and M. de Groot, University of Amsterdam, for absorption and dye laser PL measurements. P.S. acknowledges the financial support of Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek Materie (FOM) during his sabbatical at the Van der Waals–Zeeman Institute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Van der Waals–Zeeman Institute, University of Amsterdam, Valckenierstraat 65, XE Amsterdam, NL-1018, The Netherlands

    D. Timmerman, I. Izeddin, P. Stallinga & T. Gregorkiewicz

  2. Center for Electronics, Opto-electronics and Telecommunications, University of The Algarve, Faro, Portugal

    P. Stallinga

  3. A. F. Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, RAS, St Petersburg, Russia

    I. N. Yassievich

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  1. D. Timmerman
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Correspondence to D. Timmerman.

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Timmerman, D., Izeddin, I., Stallinga, P. et al. Space-separated quantum cutting with silicon nanocrystals for photovoltaic applications. Nature Photon 2, 105–109 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2007.279

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