High-temperature solar cell for concentrated solar-power hybrid systems

Abstract

A high-temperature solar cell is proposed that harvests solar energy at elevated temperatures. Carrier separation is achieved by selective contacts that preferentially extract electrons or holes. The theoretical conversion efficiency of the proposed device is 38.6% at 600 K and an incident solar radiation concentration of 1000. The waste heat of this cell could be used by a secondary thermal converter boosting the total efficiency of the hybrid system above 55%.