Effect of external applied electric field on the silicon solar cell’s thermodynamic efficiency

This paper presents a possible solution toimprove the efficiency of photovoltaic solar cells. Anexternal electric field is applied on a silicon photovoltaicsolar cell, inducing band-trap ionization of charge carriers.Output current is then monitored and the thermodynamicefficiency is calculated. Results show on the one hand asignificant increase in efficiency for a certain margin ofapplied electric field, and on the another hand the instabilitiesof efficiency. A simple approach is then suggestedfor the implementation of these results. An efficiency of67% has been reached for an applied electric of 1586 V/Cm.