Energy Conversion Efficiency of Solar Cells

Takashi Kita is a Professor at Kobe University. He received his Doctor of Engineering degree from Osaka University in 1991. In 1990 he was appointed as Assistant Professor at Kobe University, and promoted to Associate Professor and his current position in 2000 and 2007, respectively. In 1996, he worked as a Visiting Researcher in the group led by Professor Hans-Joachim Queisser, Max-Plank Institute. His work is mainly concerned with the development of high-performance photonic devices, and has been recognized with the Japan Society of Applied Physics Fellow Award. Yukihiro Harada is an Assistant Professor at Kobe University, where he received his Doctor of Engineering degree in 2009 and was appointed to his current position the same year. From 2016 to 2017, he worked as a Visiting Researcher in the group led by Dr. Nicholas J. Ekins-Daukes, Imperial College London, UK. His work is mainly concerned with the optical properties of semiconductor nanostructures. He is a member of the Japan Society of Applied Physics, the Physical Society of Japan, and the Optical Society of America. Shigeo Asahi is a Project Assistant Professor at Kobe University. He received his Master of Engineering degree from the University of Tokyo in 2003. After working for a private company for ten years, he enrolled at Kobe University in 2013 and completed his PhD in 2016. He was appointed to his current position the same year. His work is mainly concerned with the development of high-efficiency solar cells.

The solar cell and the electrochemical cell.- Photons from the Sun.- “Graphical solution” for the solar cell conversion efficiency in the completely ideal case.- Influences of carrier generation and recombination on the solar cell conversion efficiency.- The conversion efficiency of a solar cell as determined by the detailed balance model.- Actual calculation of solar cell efficiencies.- Application limits for the ideal conditions.- Fundamentals of semiconductors