A figure-of-merit-based framework to evaluate photovoltaic materials

Abstract

I propose a general quantitative framework to evaluate the quality, track the historical development, and guide future optimization of photovoltaic (PV) absorbers at any development level, both lab-made and computer-simulated. The framework is centered around a PV figure of merit designed to include efficiency limitations that are not captured by classic detailed balance methods derived from the Shockley-Queisser limit. A more stringent set of figure-of-merit-driven efficiency limits are calculated for 28 experimentally synthesized PV absorbers and 10 PV computationally modeled absorbers. Among early-stage absorbers, this analysis reveals very large differences in their likelihood of achieving high PV efficiencies in the future. Since the proposed figure of merit is instantly evaluated from a single equation, it can be a suitable objective function for closed-loop research on PV materials in autonomous labs, while also providing a quantitative bridge between computationally determined material properties and PV efficiency.