Open circuit voltage increase of GaSb/GaAs quantum ring solar cells under high hydrostatic pressure

Hydrostatic pressure can be used as a powerful diagnostic tool to enable the study of lattice dynamics, defects, impurities and recombination processes in a variety of semiconductor materials and devices. Here we report on intermediate band GaAs solar cells containing GaSb quantum rings which exhibit a 15% increase in open-circuit voltage under application of 8 kbar hydrostatic pressure at room temperature. The pressure coefficients of the respective optical transitions for the GaSb quantum rings, the wetting layer and the GaAs bulk, were each measured to be ~ 10.5 ± 0.5 meV/kbar. A comparison of the pressure induced and temperature induced bandgap changes highlights the significance of the thermal energy of carriers in intermediate band solar cells.