Effect of Melting Times on the Down-Shifting Properties in Ce3+-Doped Oxyfluoride Glass Ceramics for a-Si Solar Cells

Abstract

We synthesize Ce³⁺-doped oxyfluoride glass ceramics (GCs) with different melting times employing the conventional melt-quenching method. We investigate the crystal structure and photoluminescence properties of Ce³⁺-doped GCs in detail in order to evaluate the effect of melting times on the downshifting properties. The photoluminescence properties revealed that the Ce³⁺ doped GCs have an intense emission band in the broad region from 480 to 600 nm under 427 nm excitation. We improve the energy-conversion efficiency of a-Si solar cells by 0.41%, from 5.02% to 5.43%, by incorporating the Ce³⁺-doped GCs with a melting time of 1.5 h. The above results indicate that Ce³⁺-doped GCs can be a promising candidate as downshifting materials for applications in a-Si solar cells.