Emergent Non-Equilibrium Emission Profiles via Luminescent Angle Restriction for Photovoltaic Energy Conversion

The detailed-balance method established by Shockley and Queisser determines photovoltaic (PV) conversion efficiencies by relating non-equilibrium converter operation to an equilibrium reference state.

Conventionally, the angular and spectral radiative channels during power conversion are assumed to be defined by the equilibrium absorptivity and emissivity, with the photon chemical potential setting their occupation.

This assumption is well motivated for flat-plate cells, but requires closer examination when radiative energy is redistributed within a more complex nanophotonic architecture.

We analyze this distinction with a proposed luminescent angle restrictor (LAR), in which a flat-plate PV absorber is coupled to an overlayer with vertically aligned nanorods (NR).

The NR layer is nearly transparent to near-normal sunlight, while oblique PV luminescence can be absorbed, re-emitted, and partially returned to the absorber.

To calculate the operating emission profile, we develop an ergodic Markov chain transport model enforcing microscopic reversibility for local optical transitions without imposing a fixed macroscopic emissivity.

The model recovers the flat-plate detailed-balance limit and predicts voltage-dependent external emission profiles from the LAR/PV architecture.

Under idealized conditions, this non-equilibrium angular redistribution reduces the angular entropy of luminescent emission and increases efficiency relative to the conventional flat-plate reference.

We also evaluate NR photoluminescence quantum yield, solar misalignment, orientational disorder, and Auger recombination to identify practical constraints on the proposed architecture.

These results show how detailed-balance limits for PV structures can depend on internal radiative energy redistribution and the non-equilibrium emission profile, beyond what can be inferred from the macroscopic equilibrium optical response.