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Photovoltaic Partner Selection for High-Efficiency Photovoltaic-Electrolytic Water Splitting Systems: Brief Review and Perspective

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Abstract

Photovoltaic-electrolysis water splitting (PV-EWS) is the most promising approach for high solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency. The present PV-EWS systems achieve the highest STH performance by using a III-V triple-junction configuration, which, however, involves a complex and expensive manufacture process. Therefore, in this work, we demonstrate a III–V double junction device that can be used as an alternative to the III–V triple-junction device for high STH conversion efficiency of the PV-EWS systems. We estimate the STH performance via coupling world-recorded multi-junction photovoltaic (PV) and our experimented cell configurations with an EWS system. The results show that the III–V double junction, owing to the good trade-off between the efficiency loss and compensation, exhibits a higher STH efficiency than the III–V triple-junction. Furthermore, strategies for improving the efficiency of the III–V double junction device for low-cost PV-EWS system are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Postdoctoral Research Program of Sungkyunkwan University (2021).

Contributed Data or Analysis Tools

Author 3: Junsin Yi.

1. Conceived and designed the analysis.

2. Collected the data.

3. Performed the analysis.

4. Scientific discussions.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Postdoctoral Research Program of Sungkyunkwan University (2021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Information and Communication Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Republic of Korea

    Duy Phong Pham & Junsin Yi

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Republic of Korea

    Sunhwa Lee

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  1. Duy Phong Pham
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Author 1: Duy Phong Pham.

1. Conceived and designed the analysis.

2. Collected the data.

3. Performed the analysis.

4. Wrote the paper.

Author 2: Sunhwa Lee.

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Correspondence to Duy Phong Pham or Junsin Yi.

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Pham, D.P., Lee, S. & Yi, J. Photovoltaic Partner Selection for High-Efficiency Photovoltaic-Electrolytic Water Splitting Systems: Brief Review and Perspective. Silicon 14, 753–760 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-021-01220-2

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