Enhanced solar photons harvesting of a-SiC:H solar cells with ZBLA fluoride glasses containing rare earth ions

As encapsulation glasses for a-SiC:H cells, Yb3+/Ce3+-Er3+ tri-doped ZBLA fluoride glasses were prepared using the high temperature melt-quenching method and the optical characteristic of the glass were measured. Depending on the nature of rare earth doped ZBLA fluoride glasses, both near infrared (low-energy) and ultraviolet (high-energy) solar photons can be transformed into visible photons. By downshifting the ultraviolet (280–350 nm) light combined with upconverting the near infrared (900–1100 nm) light, the glass can emit strong visible (500–700 nm) light, which matches well with the spectral responsivity of a-SiC:H cells. The conversion of non-absorption photons energies by upconversion and downshifting leads to promote the improvement of a-SiC:H cells performances, and measurement shows relatively increase of 7.6%–0.8% in cell efficiencies.