Lateral multijunction photovoltaic cells

Abstract

In this work, features of solar cells of lateral type were analyzed. The authors offered a design of a monolithic compact solar module with cells electrically connected in series and with a dispersion element (holographic grating). Simulation of a multistage converter was carried out. It has been shown that with increasing the number of cells n the maximum limited efficiency n increases. Its maximum values up to n≈ 53.6% are reached for n = 15 (in the case of perfectly matched semiconductors and conditions AM0). With further increase of n , the efficiency decreases. For a set of concrete semiconductors n ≈ 45% the maximum efficiency for AM0 conditions may be achieved, when the number of cells equals 4. It has been shown that the calculation results agree with experimental data. The possibility of technical implementation of solar cells with using inkjet printers was investigated, too. Briefly discussed have been the properties of these printers, as well as metal, semiconductor and dielectric inks.