Self-consistent drift–diffusion model has been widely employed to simulate the device performance of intermediate band solar cell (IBSC) under practical device configuration. However, one of the remained issues in the drift–diffusion modeled-based works is the difficulty to reach the IB carrier continuity through the self-consistent manner. In most of the previous reports the constraints were relaxed or just partially satisfied; which render the unreliable performance results and misguide the device design strategy. In this work, in order to solve this issue and to validate our results, we performed extensive simulations to fully disclose the significant effect of the IB continuity constraints by taking InAs/GaAs quantum dot-based IBSC as a model device using the semiconductor modules in COMSOL Multiphysics combined with the Fortran codes. We found that under rigorous satisfaction of IB continuity constraint, the band potential profiles for the IBSC with either doped or nondoped IB under various light illumination conditions are nearly identical to those under the dark conditions. Moreover, from the simulated current–voltage curve dependence on the light concentration ratio, we found the device performance based on drift–diffusion under rigorous IB continuity constraint showed similar tendency to the features simulated based on detailed balance principle except the much-lowered power conversion efficiency. Our work demonstrated here, serves as an accurate and reliable IBSC device design approach toward better IB material screening, efficiency improvement, optical management, and extended application in the emerging field such as the perovskite material-based IBSC.

中文翻译：

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中能带太阳能电池的漂移扩散模拟：中能带连续性约束的影响

自洽漂移扩散模型已被广泛用于模拟实际器件配置下的中波段太阳能电池（IBSC）的器件性能。然而，基于漂移扩散模型的工作中仍然存在的问题之一是难以通过自洽的方式达到IB载流子连续性。在之前的大多数报告中，限制都被放松或只是部分满足；这会导致性能结果不可靠并误导设备设计策略。在这项工作中，为了解决这个问题并验证我们的结果，我们通过使用基于 InAs/GaAs 量子点的 IBSC 作为模型器件，使用半导体模块进行了广泛的模拟，以充分揭示 IB 连续性约束的显着影响。 COMSOL Multiphysics 与 Fortran 代码相结合。我们发现，在严格满足 IB 连续性约束的情况下，具有掺杂或非掺杂 IB 的 IBSC 在各种光照条件下的带势分布与黑暗条件下的带势分布几乎相同。此外，从模拟的电流-电压曲线对光集中比的依赖关系来看，我们发现在严格的IB连续性约束下基于漂移扩散的器件性能表现出与基于详细平衡原理模拟的特性相似的趋势，除了功率转换大大降低之外。效率。我们在这里展示的工作是一种准确可靠的 IBSC 器件设计方法，可实现更好的 IB 材料筛选、效率提高、光学管理以及在基于钙钛矿材料的 IBSC 等新兴领域的扩展应用。