Simulations of conventional and augmented types of solar cells

Device simulations play an important role in the development of more efficient types of solar cells. We first describe the simplest model approach based on the diode equation and discuss general strategies to increase the efficiencies of standard inorganic solar cells. The diode equation has several shortcomings when used to describe real devices, and therefore one needs to employ more advanced modeling approaches to achieve accurate results. We will present the main features of a typical advanced solar cell device simulation. The materials parameters for these device simulations, usually taken from experiments, can also be obtained with the help of ab initio methods based on density functional theory. This opens the very exciting possibility to develop new types of solar cells entirely in silico. Another interesting topic is the augmentation of commercial types of solar cells using frequency conversion, and we will give some insight into the corresponding modeling approaches.