Coating on commercial photovoltaic cells with silicon matrix doped with Eu3 +, Er3 + and Yb3 + ions

Abstract

Due to technological progress and the advancement of human development, energy demand is increasing and demonstrates the necessity for the use new renewable sources. Brazil is a country with high solar radiation and, although it is an excellent source of energy, the solar energy is only used as an alternative source due to its low efficiency when compared with other energy sources. The major reason for its low efficiency is due to the small absorption wavelength range, it being more sensitive in the range of 600nm to 900nm. This project propose to perform dip-coating coating on the commercial solar cells of polycrystalline silicon by the sol-gel process with silicon matrix doped with the lanthanide ions Eu3+, Er3+ and Yb3+. The Eu3+ and Er3+ ions present intense emission in the red region of the electromagnetic spectrum, a region of interest for photovoltaic cells, the Yb3+ ion is an excellent sensitizer for the lanthanide ions, promoting the upward conversion of energy. In this way, the light will emit and intensify in the region of red that will be absorbed by the photovoltaic cell, increasing its efficiency of conversion of solar energy into electric energy. The characterizations will be performed by vibrational spectroscopy (FTIR and Raman) and electronic spectroscopy (UV-Vis and photoluminescence), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The electrical characterizations will be performed through a digital multimeter using as an LED lighting source. (AU)