Elaboration and Characterization of (Ce,Sm) Doped Lanthanum Oxychloride for Photovoltaic Solar Cell

The spectral incoherence due to the emission of sunlight and the absorption of silicon solar cells cause large solar energy losses, leading to a low photovoltaic efficiency. So that low energy photons cannot be used efficiently, while the majority of high energy photons are dissipate. Doped rare earth ions (RE) are expected to solve this problem, thanks to their spectral modification characteristics and luminescence properties. In this work we present the synthesis of LaOCl co-doped by trivalent rare earth with the couple of Ce
³
+/S m
³⁺
employed in photovoltaic cell down conversion. LaOCl: Ce
³
+ /Sm
³⁺
phosphors were prepared by the solid-state method, and their structures properties were investigated by using X-ray diffraction, Infrared Spectroscopy and MEB analysis. The study shows that tetragonal LaOCl: Ce
³
+/Sm
³⁺
can be synthesized by the solid-state reaction at 700°C for 4 h.