Power generation characteristics of Si PV cell under extremely high-intensity near-infrared light irradiation

Abstract

Power generation characteristics of a Si PV cell under extremely high optical power near-infrared irradiation were investigated for use in optical wireless power transmission. We used high power LED light sources with 730nm, 850nm and 940nm wavelengths and a condensing optics to realize 10-sun level extremely high optical power irradiation in the measurements. More than 0.22W electrical power was generated from a 1cm square Si heterojunction PV cell under about 1W/cm² optical power irradiation. This is more than 10 times the power generation density of conventional Si solar panels. Estimated power conversion efficiencies under 10-sun power level near-infrared irradiation exceeded 22.5%, which indicate a potential for high-power wireless transmission with Si PV cells using near-infrared light.