Proton irradiation effect on InAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cells

Quantum dot solar cells exhibit superior performance which can absorb low-energy photons and have less degradation in irradiation environments. In this paper, proton irradiated InAs/GaAs quantum dots and their solar cells are studied. The optical property shows that quantum dots exhibit higher radiation resistance compared to the wetting layer and GaAs bulk. Besides, the photoelectric character of solar cells further illustrates that the addition of quantum dots slows down the device’s performance degradation. Furthermore, results of external quantum efficiency reveal that the current generated by quantum dot layers hardly decreases after the irradiation. These findings show that the quantum dot solar cells have high radiation resistance and are promising to be used in a harsh environment.