Imaging photocurrent collection losses in solar cells

A method is proposed that enables the imaging of the photocurrent collected by a solar cell under arbitrary operating conditions. The method uses a series of luminescence images under varying illumination to derive the total photocurrent collection efficiency at a given voltage bias. The resulting total photocurrent collection image directly relates to the difference between the dark and illuminated current-voltage characteristics of the cell. A crystalline silicon solar cell is used to test the method, and the images of the total photocurrent collection efficiency are used to quantify the influence of a crack on the total collected photocurrent of the solar cell.

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