Electro-Optical Modelling of Photovoltaic Devices

Developing and releasing open-source codes specifically designed to model the electronic and optical response of inorganic solar cells, notably III-V solar cells and silicon tandem solar cells, to a high level of accuracy using computer simulations.

Competitive advantage

  • Ideally suited for III-V thin-film solar cells and silicon tandem architectures
  • Code is scriptable and scalable, allowing applications from CAD for individual solar cells through to estimating energy yield from PV systems
  • Integrated optical constant and semiconductor parameter database
  • Python has been used as the base programming language making the code multi-platform
  • All codes are open source, allowing collaborators to run the simulation freely

Impact

  • Software released publicly on a dedicated website
  • Sourcecode available on the GitHub repository
    • SolCore PV device model
    • RayFlare PV optics model

Successful outcomes

  • A 28.3% single junction concentrator solar cell was designed using the SolCore code in conjunction with a spin-out company, Quantasol
  • The energy yield from a commercial triple-junction solar concentrator system was calculated using SolCore code and used to identify atmospheric effects on the seasonal electricity output
  • The absorption in two types of silicon solar cell (Al-BSF and Heterojucntion) was calculated from the UV to mid-IR, enabling sub-gap losses to be determined and the thermal emissivity
  • The absorption in each layer of a perovskite/silicon tandem cell was calculated using RayFlare

Capabilities and facilities

  • The code runs on standard desktop PCs using the Python3 language
  • The code is under active development as an open-source project with international partners and users

Our partners

  • Imperial College London
  • IQE PLC
  • Naked Energy Ltd
  • US Airforce
  • US Naval Research Laboratories
Tags
lensDecarbonising the Grid with Renewables
lensClean Energy