Designing Two-Step Photon Absorbers
Zhiqiao Jiang a, Kostas Fykouras b, Yorrick Boeije c, Samuel Stranks c, Daniel Congreve a, Linn Leppert d, Hemamala Karunadasa a
a Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States
b University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, Enschede, 7500 AE, Netherlands
c University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, United Kingdom
d University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Proceedings of MATSUS Fall 2026 Conference (MATSUSFall26)
B1 Fundamentals and Emerging Phenomena in Halide Perovskites
Palma, Spain, 2026 October 26th - 30th
Organizers: Sascha Feldmann, Paulina Plochocka and Alexander Urban
Invited Speaker, Hemamala Karunadasa, presentation 158
Publication date: 22nd July 2026

Wide band gap semiconductors absorb visible light but waste sub-band gap infrared photons. Likewise, near infrared band gap materials (like Si) use more of the solar spectrum, but waste higher-energy photons and produce low voltages in solar cells. An intriguing solution for harvesting IR photons, without compromising the voltage, is offered by intermediate-band solar cells. Here, an empty intermediate band is placed within the band gap of the semiconductor absorber to promote two-step photon absorption--from the valence to the intermediate band and from the intermediate to the conduction band--in addition to the band gap transition. Thus intermediate-band solar cells can produce high current density while maintaining a high voltage. However, current intermediate-band solar-cell designs suffer from a low intermediate-band density. I will present our work exploring a new design for intermediate-band solar cells, inspired by halide perovskites, that may offer new routes for increasing the intermediate band density and overall efficiency.

 

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