Inorganic Photovoltaic Cells (original) (raw)
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Solar photovoltaic electricity: Current status and future prospects
We review the technical progress made in the past several years in the area of mono-and polycrystalline thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technologies based on Si, III-V, II-VI, and I-III-VI 2 semiconductors, as well as nano-PV. PV electricity is one of the best options for sustainable future energy requirements of the world. At present, the PV market is growing rapidly at an annual rate of 35-40%, with PV production around 10.66 GW in 2009. Si and GaAs monocrystalline solar cell efficiencies are very close to the theoretically predicted maximum values. Mono-and polycrystalline wafer Si solar cells remain the predominant PV technology with module production cost around 1.50perpeakwatt.Thin−filmPVwasdevelopedasameansofsubstantiallyreducingthecostofsolarcells.Remarkableprogresshasbeenachievedinthisfieldinrecentyears.CdTeandCu(In,Ga)Se2thin−filmsolarcellsdemonstratedrecordefficienciesof16.51.50 per peak watt. Thin-film PV was developed as a means of substantially reducing the cost of solar cells. Remarkable progress has been achieved in this field in recent years. CdTe and Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 thin-film solar cells demonstrated record efficiencies of 16.5% and almost 20%, respectively. These values are the highest achieved for thin-film solar cells. Production cost of CdTe thin-film modules is presently around 1.50perpeakwatt.Thin−filmPVwasdevelopedasameansofsubstantiallyreducingthecostofsolarcells.Remarkableprogresshasbeenachievedinthisfieldinrecentyears.CdTeandCu(In,Ga)Se2thin−filmsolarcellsdemonstratedrecordefficienciesof16.50.76 per peak watt.
2020
This study aims to review the present progress of integrating the PV cell with other prominent mainstream photovoltaic cell materials. The combination of the materials in a thin film electric cell is advantageous due to the reduction within the material usage and therefore the rise in efficiency. Amorphous Silicon (α-Si), Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) and Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) are the three major thin film solar cells technologies. The discussion mainly focuses on the environmental factors, efficiency of the energy production and limitations of the utilization of the technology. The recent progress within the third-generation cells is being reckoned as a pathway to beat the drawbacks and therefore, the concerns regarding the present solar cell technologies. Referring to this situation there are certainly more theoretical analysis than the sensible application of the third-generation solar cells. The need of low-cost, flexible, scalable and lightweight materials has certai...
International Journal of Energy Research, 2019
To solve energy crisis, generation of clean and renewable energy sources are highly recommended. It not only solve energy-related matters but also resolves environmental issues. A great number of renewable energy sources are present nowadays to resolve aforementioned issues, out of which photovoltaic modules is the preferable technology over others. Silicon is the native element to be used in photovoltaic module, due to its reasonable cost and band gap. The deciding parameters to harness solar energy to electricity rely upon solar irradiance and weather conditions. Here, we describe the rapid transformation of silicon as photovoltaic solar cell material that transfigured the photovoltaic industry. The photovoltaic industry initiated with monocrystalline silicon and multicrystalline silicon solar cell having conversion efficiency reached up to approximately 22.9% and 20.8%, respectively. The contemporary outburst for the trade of photovoltaic industry is due to the high manufacturing cost of silicon solar panels, which provided a chance for researchers to quest for advanced technology. It gave an opportunity for thin film solar cell to infiltrate in the market. This technology reduced the cost but on the expense of lower conversion efficiency.
N-type multicrystalline silicon: material for solar cell processes with high efficiency potential
Conference Record of the Thirty-first IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2005.
We present the characterisation of directionally solidified n-type Si ingots. Three ingots with a range of bulk resistivities and different n-type doping elements (Sb, P and As) were studied. We show from Hall measurements that the mc-Si material has excellent electrical transport properties. The mobilities are close to the theoretical limit, which is given mainly by scattering at acoustical phonons. Mobilities so close to the theoretical value have, to our knowledge, not been demonstrated for comparable p-type mc-Si wafers. Additional measurements on high quality p-type mc-Si material support this statement. This m eans that other scattering mechanisms reduce the mobility in p-type mc-Si material, but are not present in n-type silicon. Lifetime measurements were conducted by µW-PCD using an iodine-ethanol surface passivation. This passivation was used preferably to SiNx, as in some experiments the hydrogen from the PECVD SiN seemed to passivate the bulk at deposition temperatures. Average values in excess of 120 µs over large areas were measured. In order to exploit the good material properties of ntype mc-Si, solar cell concepts must be developed and the processes optimised. B-diffusion is the most problematic step as it is considered to be both destructive to material quality and energy consuming. In this paper, we show that a BBr3-emitter diffusion is possible at moderate temperatures without degrading the carrier lifetime of the mc-Si material. An additional contribution from Libal et al. [1] on solar cell processing is included in this conference.
Chapter 6: The Dream of Thin film PV
In order to realize a dream of a major contribution to our electric power needs here on earth from renewable solar energy, cost became a major driver of a large research effort for solar PV in the US. As noted in chapter 3, there were three schools of thought. The first group argued that the single crystal silicon cells developed for space could be made low cost by clever manufacturing innovations and economies of scale. The second group argued that single crystals silicon cells are like gem stones and will always be intrinsically too expensive and therefore, non crystalline thin film cells were needed. This led to a major research effort in the US on Cadmium Telluride (CdTe), Copper Indium Gallium di-Selluride (CIGS), and amorphous Silicon (a-Si) thin film solar cells [1]. A third group argued that single crystals were necesssary for high efficiency conversion and that the low cost large area solar energy collection function could be managed with low cost optical lenses or mirrors. This effort has led to 35% efficient dual junction single crystal cells like the Gallium Arsenide / Gallium Antimonide (GaAs/GaSb) mechanically stacked cell [2] and the 40% efficient three junction Indium Gallium Phosphide / Gallium Indium Arsenide / Germanium (InGaP/GaInAs/Ge) monolithic cell [3]. Now in 2014, 40 years later, the laws of physics and volume manufacturing have provided some interesting answers. We now know that volume production has indeed been very important and silicon modules are dominant in the terrestrial arena with module cost now below a dollar per Watt [4]. As shown in figure 1, the Silicon module production accounts for 90% of the total installed PV capacity as of 2013 with thin film PV modules accounting for only about 10% of the total [5]. Nevertheless, the story of amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar cells is a very interesting story with some remarkable spin off applications. In 1976, David Carlson and Christopher Wronski of RCA Laboratories created the first amorphous silicon PV cells [6]. There followed a lot of work on understanding this material and developing methods of fabricating devices using this material. Today, while a-Si PV is not used for large scale electric power generation, it is used by almost everybody in calculators [7] and solar watches [8] as shown in figure 2. The first solarpowered calculator [7] was introduced in 1978.
7 Crystalline Silicon Thin Film Solar Cells
2018
In the last few years the marked share of thin film solar cells increased appreciably to 16.8% (in 2009). The main part of that increase refers to CdTe modules (9.1%) followed by silicon thin film cells, that is amorphous silicon (a-Si) cells or tandem cells consisting of a-Si and nanocrystalline silicon (μc-Si). For a review on thin film solar cells in general see (Green, 2007) and on a-Si/μc-Si cells see (Beaucarne, 2007). The a-Si cells suffer from a low efficiency. In the lab the highest efficiency up to now is 10.1% on 1 cm2 (Green et al., 2011), whereas in the industrial production modules reach about 7%. In order to achieve the required electronic quality of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), low deposition rate (max. 50 nm/min) PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition) is used for deposition which makes production more expensive as compared to CdTe modules. This is even worse for the layer system in a-Si/μc-Si tandem cells for which the more than 1 μm thick na...