Efficiency of Solar Cells Enhanced by Quantum Coherence

Recent studies claim that quantum coherence could break the detail balance limit of a solar cell, so-called the Shockley-Queisser limit. We study how much the efficiency of a solar cell as a quantum heat engine could be enhanced by quantum coherence. In contrast to the conventional approach that a quantum heat engine is in thermal equilibrium with both hot and cold reservoirs, we propose a new master equation approach that the quantum heat engine is in the cold reservoir and the thermal radiation from the hot reservoir is described by the pumping term. This pumping term solves the problem of the incorrect mean photon number of the hot reservoir assumed by the previous studies. By solving the master equation, the current-voltage and the power-voltage curves of the photocell for different pumping rates are obtained. We find that, as the photon flux increases, the power output of the solar cell increases linearly at first and then becomes saturated, but the efficiency decreases rapidly. This finding implies that while the power output is enhanced significantly by the quantum coherence via the dark state of the coupled donors, the efficiency is not.