High Efficiency Carrier Multiplication in PbSe Nanocrystals: Implications for Solar Energy Conversion
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 5 May 2004
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 92 (18) , 186601
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.92.186601
Abstract
We demonstrate for the first time that impact ionization (II) (the inverse of Auger recombination) occurs with very high efficiency in semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs). Interband optical excitation of PbSe NCs at low pump intensities, for which less than one exciton is initially generated per NC on average, results in the formation of two or more excitons (carrier multiplication) when pump photon energies are more than 3 times the NC band gap energy. The generation of multiexcitons from a single photon absorption event is observed to take place on an ultrafast (picosecond) time scale and occurs with up to 100% efficiency depending upon the excess energy of the absorbed photon. Efficient II in NCs can be used to considerably increase the power conversion efficiency of NC-based solar cells.Keywords
All Related Versions
This publication has 23 references indexed in Scilit:
- Pseudopotential Theory of Auger Processes in CdSe Quantum DotsPhysical Review Letters, 2003
- Advanced Technology Paths to Global Climate Stability: Energy for a Greenhouse PlanetScience, 2002
- Third generation photovoltaics: solar cells for 2020 and beyondPhysica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures, 2002
- Quantum dot solar cellsPhysica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures, 2002
- SPECTROSCOPY ANDHOTELECTRONRELAXATIONDYNAMICS INSEMICONDUCTORQUANTUMWELLS ANDQUANTUMDOTSAnnual Review of Physical Chemistry, 2001
- Optical Nonlinearities and Ultrafast Carrier Dynamics in Semiconductor NanocrystalsThe Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2000
- Quantization of Multiparticle Auger Rates in Semiconductor Quantum DotsScience, 2000
- Auger ionization of semiconductor quantum drops in a glass matrixJournal of Luminescence, 1990
- Efficiency of hot-carrier solar energy convertersJournal of Applied Physics, 1982
- Detailed Balance Limit of Efficiency of p-n Junction Solar CellsJournal of Applied Physics, 1961