Photovoltaic efficiency enhancement for crystalline silicon solar cells via a Bi-functional layer based on europium complex@nanozeolite@SiO2

Eu 3+ complexes are the prime candidates for luminescent down-shifting (LDS) converters of solar cells due to their high luminescent quantum efficiencies (LQE), large Stoke shifts and tunable excitation. However, their instability towards heat will shorten their life in solar cells, especially for outdoor use. Besides, the optical loss of the front glass and encapsulants will trade off the enhanced efficiency by photo-conversion. In this paper, highly emissive hybrid material Eu(PPO) n -C 4 Si@NZ (HY) was obtained by assembling europium complex into three different sizes of stable zeolite L functionalized with a water-soluble stopper. Then a bi-functional layer by incorporating HY (LDS) with anti-reflective SiO 2 was developed. Benefitting from the dual functions, the as-prepared cell with HY@SiO 2 film substrate manifests an increased external quantum efficiency (EQE) in both UV and the longer wavelength regions, compared with pure glass based c-Si solar cell. In the best case, the conversion efficiency of the c-Si solar cell is increased by a relative 3.30% (from 16.386% to 16.926%).