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Solar Photovoltaic Physics

Basic Physics and Materials Science of Solar Cells

Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Solar Resource

Syllabus

Chapter 3: Fundamental of Photovoltaic (Light absorption, Excitation and Transport)

Chapter 4: PN Junctions
Chapter 5: Solar Cells and Parameters Chapter 6: Design of Silicon Cells Chapter 7: Manufacturing Si Cells

Chapter 8: Thin film Solar cells [CdS/CdTe, CdS/CIGS and GaAs].


Chapter 9: Dye/Quantum dots sensitized solar cells Chapter 10: Modules, Arrays and Characterization

Books
http://www.pvcdrom.pveducation.org/

Jenny Nelson: The Physics of Solar Cells: Imperial College Press


Peter Wurfel: Physics of Solar Cells: From Basic Principles to Advanced Concepts: Viley -VCH

Books
Bube, R. H. Photovoltaic Materials. London, UK: Imperial College Press, 1998. ISBN: 9781860940651. Green, M. A. Solar Cells: Operating Principles, Technology and System Applications . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1981. ISBN: 9780138222703. Wenham, S. R., M. A. Green, M. E. Watt, R. Corkish. Applied Photovoltaics. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Earthscan Publications Ltd., 2007. ISBN: 9781844074013. Green, M. A. Silicon Solar Cells: Advanced Principles and Practice . Sydney, Australia: Centre for Photovoltaic Devices & Systems, 1995. ISBN: 9780733409943. Aberle, A. G. Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells - Advanced Surface Passivation & Analysis. Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales, 2004. ISBN: 9780733406454 Poortmans, J., and V. Arkhipov. Thin Film Solar Cells: Fabrication, Characterization and Applications. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2006. ISBN: 9780470091265. Green, M. A. Third Generation Photovoltaics: Advanced Solar Energy Conversion. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag, 2007. ISBN: 9783540265627. Luque, A., and S. Hegedus. Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2003. ISBN: 9780471491965

Tests and Scores


Mid Test : 30 Final Test : 30 Presentations [2] : 20 Attendance : 20 Total : 100

A Brief History of Photovoltaic Technology


1839 Photovoltaic effect discovered by Becquerel. 1870s Hertz developed solid selenium PV (2%). 1905 Photoelectric effect explained by A. Einstein. 1930s Light meters for photography commonly employed cells of copper oxide or selenium. 1954 Bell Laboratories developed the first crystalline silicon cell (4%). 1958 PV cells on the space satellite U.S. Vanguard (better than expected).

Things Start To Get Interesting...


Mid 1970s World energy crisis started and millions of dollars spent in research and development of cheaper and more efficient solar cells. 1976 First amorphous silicon cell developed by Wronski and Carlson. 1980s - Steady progress towards higher efficiency and many new types introduced 1990s - Large scale production of solar cells more than 10% efficient with the following materials: Ga-As and other III-Vs Crystalline, Polycrystalline, and Amorphous Silicon CuInGaSe2 and CdTe TiO2 Dye-sensitized (still under research and not yet commercialized)

Today prices continue to drop and new 3rd generation solar cells are researched.

Types of Solar Photovoltaic Materials

Photovoltaic Materials

Electronic Structure of Semiconductors


Silicon Group 4 elemental semiconductor Silicon crystal forms the diamond lattice Resulting in the use of four valence electrons of each silicon atom.

Crystalline Silicon

Amorphous Silicon

Solar PV Materials:
Crystalline & Polycrystalline Silicon
Advantages:
High Efficiency (14-22%) Established technology (The leader) Stable

Disadvantages:
Expensive production Low absorption coefficient Large amount of highly purified feedstock

Amorphous Silicon
Advantages: High absorption (dont need a lot of material) Established technology Ease of integration into buildings Excellent ecological balance sheet Cheaper than the glass, metal, or plastic you deposit it on Disadvantages: Only moderate stabilized efficiency 7-10% Instability- It degrades when light hits it Now degraded steady state

The Sun

Solar Radiation In Space


The solar irradiance on an object some distance D from the sun is found by dividing the total power emitted from the sun by the surface area over which the sunlight falls

Solar Radiation Outside the Earth's Atmosphere

Blackbody Radiation
The total power density from a blackbody is determined by integrating the spectral irradiance over all wavelengths which gives:
where is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant and T is the temperature of the blackbody (K).

The wavelength at which the spectral irradiance is the highest, or, in other words the wavelength where most of the power is emitted.

The Solar Spectrum


The spectral content of the incident light; the radiant power density from the sun; the angle at which the incident solar radiation strikes a photovoltaic module; and the radiant energy from the sun throughout a year or day for a particular surface.

The Solar Spectrum

the spectral content of the incident light; the radiant power density from the sun; the angle at which the incident solar radiation strikes a photovoltaic module; and the radiant energy from the sun throughout a year or day for a particular surface.

Atmospheric Effects
Atmospheric effects have several impacts on the solar radiation at the Earth's surface. The major effects for photovoltaic applications are: A reduction in the power of the solar radiation due to absorption, scattering and reflection in the atmosphere; A change in the spectral content of the solar radiation due to greater absorption or scattering of some wavelengths; The introduction of a diffuse or indirect component into the solar radiation; and Local variations in the atmosphere(such as water vapor, clouds and pollution) which have additional effects on the incident power, spectrum and directionality.

Atmospheric Effects

When dealing with "particles" such as photons or electrons, a commonly used unit of energy is the electronvolt (eV) rather than the joule (J). An electron volt is the energy required to raise an electron through 1 volt, thus 1 eV = 1.602 x 10-19 J.

Spectral Irradiance

The spectral irradiance of xenon (green), halogen (blue) and mercury (red) light bulbs (left axis) are compared to the spectral irradiance from the sun (purple, which corresponds to the right axis).

Radiant Power Density

Quantifying Solar Power

Orbit Ellipticity

Air Mass

Standardized Solar Spectrum and Solar Irradiation

Average Monthly Solar Radiation

Attempts to Simulate Solar Spectra


Better matches: Xe lamps with air mass filters

The ideal illumination source would have following features


A spatial non uniformity of less than 1%. A variation in total irradiance with time of less than 1%, filtered for a given reference spectrum to have a spectral mismatch error of less than 1%. These requirements are essential in obtaining an accuracy of better than 2%
Testers are classified according to three criteria:

Spectral match Irradiance inhomogeneity - spatial uniformity over the illumination area Temporal Instability - stability over time. There are three classes within each of these criteria where 'A' is the top rating an 'C' is the lowest rating

Uniformity Spectral Fidelity Temporal Stability

Solar Simulator Standards

Estimating Solar Systems Outputs

Actual system outputs may be significantly lower, due to suboptimal system performance, design, installation, shading losses,

Estimating Solar Land Area Requirements

Test Case

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