2014 年 35 巻 11 号 p. 595-602
Organic and inorganic photovoltaic cells can be classified as excitonic solar cells and pn-junction solar cells, respectively. In this article, a fundamental difference in the operational mechanism between them is explained. The detailed balance limit of power conversion efficiency (PCE) was already established for pn-junction solar cells by Shockley and Queisser. Recent attempts to obtain theoretical limits of PCE for excitonic solar cells are reviewed.