Hot carrier solar cell efficiency simulation with carrier extraction through non ideal selective contacts

The hot carrier solar cell is an innovative concept of high efficiency 3
^rd
generation photovoltaic, where thermal losses are reduced by slowing the electron thermalization. Such cells offer maximal potential performance equivalent to an ideal multi-junction cell. Energy selective contacts are necessary to insulate the “hot” carriers in the absorber from the “cold” carriers in the outside world. These contacts allow only electrons with one specific energy to be collected. Here we propose a model of a cell with realistic contacts allowing transmission of electrons within a narrow energy range. The influence of the transmission range of the contact on the cell efficiency and on thermal losses is investigated. We show that, in some specific conditions, the acceptable energy width of the selective contacts can be large and semi-selective contacts allow significant efficiency enhancement.