Intrinsic and extrinsic drops in open-circuit voltage and conversion efficiency in solar cells with quantum dots embedded in host materials.

We systematically analyzed the detailed-balance-limit-conversion efficiency of solar cells with quantum dots (QDs) embedded in host materials. We calculated their open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, and conversion efficiency within single-photon absorption conditions, both in the radiative limit and in other cases with non-radiative recombination loss, using modeled absorption band with various absorptivities and energy widths formed below that of the host material. Our results quantitatively revealed the existence of intrinsic and significant drops in the open-circuit voltage and conversion efficiency of QD solar cells, in addition to extrinsic drops due to degraded material quality.