ISSN: 2320-5407 Int. J. Adv. Res.

13(03), 1316-1322

Journal Homepage: -www.journalijar.com

Article DOI:10.21474/IJAR01/20683
DOI URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/20683

RESEARCH ARTICLE
EFFECT OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD ON THE SPECTRAL RESPONSE AND EXTERNAL QUANTUM
EFFICIENCY OF A BIFACIAL SILICON SOLAR CELL

Amadou Diao1, Mountaga Boiro1, Ibrahima Toure1, Adama Ndiaye1 and Senghane Mbodji2
1. Semi Conductors and Solar Energy Laboratory, Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences and Techniques,
Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar / Senegal.
2. Research Team in Renewable Energies, Materials and Laser, Department of Physics, UFR SATIC, Alioune
Diop University, Bambey / Senegal.
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Manuscript Info Abstract
……………………. ………………………………………………………………
Manuscript History In this paper, a theoretical study of a constant magnetic field effect on
Received: 25 January 2025 spectral response and external quantum efficiency of a bifacial silicon
Final Accepted: 28 February 2025 solar cell, is done. Considering a steady-state regime, we use the
Published: March 2025 continuity equation that is related to the photogenerated minority
carriers in the base of a solar cell in order to determine the expression
Key words:-
Solar Cell, Photocurrent, of the minority carriers’ density according to the wavelength, the
Photoconductivity, Spectral Response, magnetic field and the junction recombination velocity. Based on the
Quantum Efficiency, Magnetic Field, expression of minority carriers’ density, we established the expressions
Wavelength
of the photoconductivity and the photocurrent density from which the
spectral response and the external quantum efficiency have been
deduced according to the excitation and phenomenological parameters
of the solar cell. We found that, as the magnetic field increases, both
the spectral response and external quantum efficiency decrease; what
shows a degradation of the intrinsic properties of the solar cell.
"© 2025 by the Author(s). Published by IJAR under CC BY 4.0. Unrestricted use allowed
with credit to the author."
……………………………………………………………………………………………………....
Introduction:-
Renewable energies have become an unavoidable alternative energies sources to meet the energy demand of the
world’s population. Among these renewable energies, photovoltaic energy plays an important role in reducing
atmospheric emissions by limiting greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. However, the output energy of the
cell depends on weather environment, installation techniques of the solar panels and their energy conversion
efficiency,manufacturing technology and nature of the solar cells that are used [1]. Therefore, many developed
techniques and methods have been used to solar cells characterization in order to enhance the energy conversion
efficiency. Thus, the parameters like the photoconductivity [2-13], the spectral response [14] and the quantum
efficiency [15-21] have been widely used as characterizing techniques to many of solar cells. Furthermore, a few
authors as Andrés Cuevas et al. [22] and Vasiliki Paraskeva et al. [23] have used respectively the photoconductivity
on the 'emitters' layers of solar cells andthe shunt resistances effects on a germanium multi-junction solar cells in
order to measure their quantum efficiencies. Also, Giorgio Bardizza et al. [24] and Mauro Pravettoni et al. [25] have
characterized dye-sensitive solar cells (DSSC) in frequency modulation and concentrated crystalline solar cells using
the spectral response technique, respectively. For Baishali Talukdar et al. [26], the shading effect of several cells is
shown on spectral response and quantum efficiency.

Corresponding Author:- Amadou Diao

Address:- Semi Conductors and Solar Energy Laboratory, Department of Physics, 1316
Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar / Senegal.
ISSN: 2320-5407 Int. J. Adv. Res. 13(03), 1316-1322

In this work, we carry out a theoretical study of an applied magnetic field effect on the spectral response and
external quantum efficiency of a bifacial silicon solar cell. We note that the magnetic field, which is perpendicularly
applied, degrades some electrical properties of the solar cell.

Theory
We use a n+-p-p+ type of a bifacial silicon solar cell [29-30] that is modelled as shown in figure 1:

Figure 1:- A simplified scheme of bifacial silicon solar cell under a magnetic field effect.

Where d and H are respectively the emitter and the base thicknesses.
We consider, at first, a one-dimensional study of the solar cell, along the x-axis.

When a solar cell is placed under optical excitation, absorbed incident photons create minority carriers which can
recombine or diffuse in the base. This process of the minority carriers, in steady-state, is governed by the continuity
equation :
𝝏𝟐 𝜹𝒏 𝜹𝒏
𝑫𝒏 − = −𝑮 (1)
𝝏𝒙𝟐 𝝉𝒏

WhereDn is the minority carriers diffusion coefficient given by :

𝑫𝒐
𝑫𝒏 = (2)
𝟏 + 𝝁𝟐𝒐 𝑩𝟐

WithDo being the minority carriers diffusion coefficient without magnetic field; G is the minority carriers generation
rate [31, 32] at position x, whose expression is :
𝑮 = 𝜶(𝝀)𝝓(𝝀)(𝟏 − 𝑹 𝝀 )𝒆−𝜶 𝝀 𝒙 (3)

Where the parameters (), R() and () are respectively the absorption coefficient, the reflection coefficient and
the incident photons flux at wavelength  and 𝜏𝑛 is the average lifetime; 𝑚is the effective mass of electrons in the
base; 𝛿𝑛 is the excess minority carriers’ density in the base.
A solution of equation (1) is given by :
−
𝒙 𝒙 𝜶(𝝀)𝑳𝟐𝒏 𝝓(𝟏 − 𝑹 𝝀 )𝒆−𝜶 𝝀 𝒙
𝜹𝒏 = 𝑨𝒆 𝑳𝒏 + 𝑪𝒆𝑳𝒏 − (4)
𝑫𝒏 𝜶(𝝀)𝟐 𝑳𝟐𝒏 − 𝟏
with :
𝑳𝒏 = 𝑫𝒏 𝝉𝒏 and 𝜶(𝝀)𝟐 𝑳𝟐𝒏 − 𝟏 ≠ 𝟎 (5)

Where Ln is the minority carriers’ diffusion length in the base.

The following boundary conditions [32, 33] are used to determine the coefficients A and C :
- at the junction (x = 0)
𝝏𝜹𝒏
𝑫𝒏 ∙ = 𝑺𝒇 ∙ 𝜹𝒏 𝒙=𝟎 (6)
𝝏𝒙 𝒙=𝟎
- at the back side (x = H)

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𝝏𝜹𝒏
𝑫𝒏 ∙ = −𝑺𝒃 ∙ 𝜹𝒏 𝒙=𝑯 (7)
𝝏𝒙 𝒙=𝑯
Where Sf and Sb are respectively the junction recombination velocity and the back surface recombination velocity.

Expression of the photocurrent density

The photocurrent density is determined according to the photoconductivity as following :
𝟏
𝑱𝒑𝒉 = 𝝈 − 𝜷 𝒆−𝜶(𝝀)𝑯 − 𝟏 (8)
𝜸 𝒑𝒉
Where 𝛾 is a coefficient that depends on geometrical parameters of the solar cell and the nature of the incident
illumination ; 𝛽 a coefficient which expression is :
𝒒𝝁𝒐 𝝓(𝝀)(𝟏 − 𝑹 𝝀 )𝑳𝒏 𝟐
𝜷= (9)
𝑫𝒐 𝜶(𝝀)𝟐 𝑳𝟐𝒏 − 𝟏
And 𝝈𝒑𝒉 is the photoconductivity which is given by [34]:

𝒒𝟐 𝝉𝒏 𝜹𝒏
𝝈𝒑𝒉 = (10)
𝒎 𝟏 + 𝝁𝟐𝒐 𝑩𝟐
whereq is the elementary charge.

Expressions of the spectral response and the external quantum efficiency

The spectral response (SR) is the ratio of photocurrent density 𝐽𝑝ℎ to incident power 𝑃𝑖 and its expression is given by
[35, 36] :
𝑱𝒑𝒉
𝑺𝑹 = (11)
𝑷𝒊
with :
𝒉𝑪
𝑷𝒊 = 𝝓 (12)
𝝀 𝒊
where 𝜙𝑖 is the incident photons flux (()), ℎ is the Planck’s constant and 𝐶 the light celerity in the vacuum.
Substituting equations (8) and (12) into equation (11), we get :
𝝀
𝑺𝑹 = 𝝈 − 𝜷 𝒆−𝜶(𝝀)𝑯 − 𝟏 (13)
𝜸𝒉𝑪(𝝀) 𝒑𝒉
From the relationship between spectral response and external quantum efficiency (EQE) [37],we obtain :
𝒒𝝀
𝑺𝑹 = 𝑬𝑸𝑬 (14)
𝒉𝑪
We deduce, from equation (14), the expression of the external quantum efficiency as below :
𝝈𝒑𝒉 − 𝜷 𝒆−𝜶(𝝀)𝑯 − 𝟏
𝑬𝑸𝑬 = (15)
𝒒𝜸(𝝀)
Results and Discussion:-
5-1°) Profile of the photocurrent density
In figures 2-a and 2-b, the photocurrent density versus the junction recombination velocity is represented
respectively in short and long wavelengths:

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Figure 2-a:- For short wavelength with B = 0 T Figure 2-b:- For long wavelength with B = 0 T.

We have three zones of the solar cell functionment. The first, in the interval of the junction recombination velocity
[0 m.s-1; 2.102 m.s-1[ where the photocurrent is almost zero and corresponds to that of open circuit situation; the
second, in the interval ]5.105 m.s-1; 8.108 m.s-1] where the photocurrent is maximum and equals to that of short
circuit situation and the third, in the interval ] 2.10 2 m.s-1; 5.105 m.s-1] where the photocurrent varies with the
operating point that is correlated to the junction recombination velocity.

In short wavelengths interval [0.3m; 0.7m], the photocurrent amplitude increases since the incident photons are
strongly absorbed by the base of the solar cell. However, in long wavelengths interval [0.7m; 1.2m], the incident
photons are weakly absorbed because the base becomes transparent especially of those whose energies are very low.

5-2°) Profile of the spectralresponse (SR)

In figure 3, we represent the spectral response according to the wavelength for different values of the magnetic
field :

Figure 3:- Spectral response versus wavelength for different magnetic field values.

At the figure 3, the spectral response is given according to the wavelength for different magnetic field values. We
have the same behavior of the three curves. For a given curve, the spectral response increases with the wavelength
until reaching a maximum value SRmaxat a limit wavelengthL that depends on the magnetic field. From the SRmax
value, the spectral response decreases with the wavelength. In the interval of wavelength [0.3m ; L], the increase
in spectral response is due to that of photoconductivity [13] which corresponds to a significant absorptivity of the

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solar cell base; what implies a good sensitivity of this cell. However, in the interval of wavelength ]L ; 1.2m], the
spectral response decreases so that we note a decreasingsensitivity of the solar cell since the photoconductivity also
decreases in the base.

5-3°) Profile of the external quantum efficiency

In figure 4, the external quantum efficiency is represented according to the wavelength for different magnetic field :

Figure 4:- External quantum efficiency versus wavelength for different magnetic field values.

In figure 4, we note the same behavior of the three curves of external quantum efficiency according to the
wavelength for the different magnetic field values. For a given curve, the maximum of the external quantum
efficiency is obtained in the visible wavelength domain. Three maximum values of the external quantum efficiency
have been obtained : i) the first that corresponds to a wavelength 1 = 0.34m for the three magnetic field values,
isEQEmax1 = 0.422 ; ii) the second corresponds to EQEmax2 = 0.565 at the wavelength 2 = 0.52m for the two values
of magnetic field B = 0 T and B = 3.10 -4 T ; iii) the third to EQEmax3 = 0.555 at the wavelength 2 = 0.48m for a
value of magnetic field B = 10-3 T. Beyond these maximum values, the external quantum efficiency decreases with
the increase of the wavelength. From the caracteristic wavelength = 0.455m, the amplitude of the external
quantum efficiency decreases with the increase of the magnetic field.

Conclusion:-
In short wavelengths interval, the photocurrent density, the spectral response and the external quantum efficiency
increase while in long wavelengths they decrease. The application of a perpendicular magnetic field on the base,
leads to a decrease in the amplitude of the photocurrent, the spectral response and the external quantum efficiency;
this fact implies a degraded intrinsic properties of the solar cell.

For the future investigation, we will develop a program algorithm that will take into account to all the parameters
that have been used in this work. For this purpose, experimental measurements will be carried out on a mono or
polycrystalline silicon solar cell under real operating conditions.

Acknowledgements:-
We acknowledge the Semiconductors and Solar Energy Laboratory and the Research Team in Renewable Energies,
Materials and Laser for supporting this work.

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