Microscopic reversibility demands lower open circuit voltage in multiple exciton generation solar cells

Multiple exciton generation (MEG) increases the short circuit current of solar cells and is, therefore, often cited as a candidate scheme for surpassing the efficiency limit of single junction solar cells. Conventionally, limiting efficiencies for MEG solar cells have been calculated using quasi-equilibrium models that implicitly assume an effective separation of timescales between different processes. We show here that this separation of timescales is not possible for MEG solar cells, with Auger recombination, the inverse process to multi-exciton generation, needing to be considered explicitly in the efficiency limits of an MEG solar cell. We assess the impact of Auger recombination using a non-equilibrium model of a quantum dot solar cell that satisfies microscopic reversibility and can approximate experimental external quantum efficiency (EQE) curves of MEG solar cells. Recombination—both Auger and radiative—is treated in a quasi-equilibrium approach, which can be justified with a clear model for the separation of timescales. A key insight of this model is that the achievable voltage of the device, and hence the solar energy conversion efficiency, depends on the absolute values of the impact ionization rate and the rate at which electrons lose energy through phonon scattering. By contrast, the EQE profile at short circuit depends only on the ratio of these two rates. This shows that the potential of certain MEG solar cell approaches cannot be assessed from EQE improvements alone, which highlights the importance of considering non-equilibrium processes in models of solar energy conversion devices.