Efficiency above the Shockley-Queisser limit by using nanophotonic effects to create multiple effective bandgaps with a single semiconductor.

We present a pure photonic approach to overcome the Shockley-Queisser limit. A single material can show different effective bandgap, set by its absorption spectrum, which depends on its photonic structure. In a tandem cell configuration constructed from a single material, one can achieve two different effective bandgaps, thereby exceeding the Shockley-Queisser limit.