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By William Shockley and Hans-Joachim Queisser, Journal of Applied Physics 32(3), pp.510–519.

DOI: doi.org/10.1063/1.1736034

Abstract and publication record: cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1363107368395790720

Hans-Joachim Queisser and William Shockley calculated an ideal efficiency limit for a single-junction solar cell using detailed balance. The cell must emit as well as absorb photons, and radiative recombination therefore limits the electrical work extracted from illumination even when other losses are removed. Their 1961 analysis varies the band gap and allows a specified fraction of nonradiative recombination. The familiar limit belongs to stated assumptions about the illumination, cell temperature and device; it is not one universal numerical efficiency for every photovoltaic design.^[ref]

A physicist who coauthored Detailed Balance Limit of Efficiency of p-n Junction Solar Cells by William Shockley and Hans-Joachim Queisser.

The Shockley-Queisser limit is the radiative conversion-efficiency bound for an ideal single-junction solar cell, with one collected electron-electron hole pair per absorbed above-gap photon, carrier thermalization, and radiative recombination required by the reverse optical process. Photons below the band gap are not absorbed, while excess photon energy above it is thermalized. Maximizing the electrical power over the operating electric potential difference and then the band gap gives a ceiling of roughly thirty percent for ordinary unconcentrated sunlight; its precise value depends on the incident spectrum, cell temperature and emission geometry. The original calculation by William Shockley and Hans-Joachim Queisser obtained approximately $30\%$ at $1.1\mathrm{eV}$ for a $6000\mathrm{K}$ blackbody source and a cell at $300\mathrm{K}$.^[ref]