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Solar Cells: Seminar - 1 Year, 2 Cycle
Solar Cells: Seminar - 1 Year, 2 Cycle
Solar Cells
Abstract
This seminar is a short overview of current photovoltaics. Application of p-n junctions within solar cells is
discussed. We give the upper limit to the solar cell efficiency. Three generations of solar cells, crystalline
silicon solar cells, thin-film solar cells and photoelectrochemical cells, are described by means of their
operational principles and physics behind. We also compare efficiencies of current devices.
1
Contents
1 Introduction 2
5 Basic definitions 7
10 Comparison of PV devices 14
11 Conclusion 14
1 Introduction
Photovoltaic effect is emergence of electric voltage in a system exposed to solar radiation. With absorbtion
of photons, charge carriers are excited into conduction band. The mechanism of light induced electron
transition to a higher energy state is similar to that of photoelectric effect, where a photon carrying sufficient
amount of energy frees an electron from the surface of a metal. The photoelectric effect was explained by
Albert Einstein in 1905. Converting solar radiation into electrical energy is called photovoltaics (PV).
Devices exploiting PV effect are called solar cells, also photovoltaic cells or photovoltaic devices.
Global electricity consumption amounts to approximately 2·1014 kWh per year [1]. Could solar cells
satisfy the world’s hunger for energy and how much of the land would be needed? The Sun provides 1000
W/m2 of power density for a surface perpendicular to the Sun’s rays at sea level on a clear day. The actual
power at specific area varies with seasons and depends on the geographic position of the area. It must be
taken into account that the Sun shines only during the day and that the angle of Sun’s rays varies during
the day, if the PV devices do not rotate. We also estimate, that there is 70% of sunny days in a year.
With a little of calculation, we arrive at average power density of 120 W/m2 [2, 3, 4] coming from the Sun,
which we multiply by PV device efficiency of 10% to get the power density obtained from PV. Dividing the
consumption by the power density obtained from solar cells, we get the area of solar cells needed, which
is approximately 1012 m2 or 0.7% of Earth’s land [5]. By making a similar calculation only for Europe, a
continent with relatively high population and little sun, we find that we should cover approximately 8%
of Europe land to provide the whole Europe with electricity. That is quite a lot, but fortunately, Sahara
dessert, with area of 9.4·1012 m2 [6] is close enough to be exploited. After these estimates, we see that
solar energy could be one of the most promising energy sources, alternative to the currently dominating
fossil fuels. The problem is, however, very high cost of PV, particularly crystalline silicon solar cells, which
currently have the highest known efficiency. Although there are cheaper alternatives to silicon, they lack of
either efficiency or chemical stability, or can not be prepared by fast processing techniques [7]. In principle,
efficiency of solar cells is limited by the band gap of the material used, because the band gap has to match
a part of solar frequency spectrum. It is also conected with impurities in the material. Cheaper materials
often contain a lot of impurities, which can act as recombination centres for photogenerated charge carriers,
2
thus lowering the efficiency and stability of a cell. Chemical instability refers to light induced degradation
in amorphous silicon solar cells or to the limited number of redox cycles for electrolytes in novel solar cells.
PV is world’s fastest growing power generation technology. From 2008 until now, the global contribution
of PV to electricity production raised from 0.06% to 0.5% [1, 8]. The rapid, we could say exponential growth
of installed PV capacity from 2000 to 2010 was strongly influenced by national subsidies. Based on the
capacity installed and connected to the grid at the end of 2011, PV can provide roughly 2% of the electricity
demand in Europe, up from 1.15% at the end of 2010 [9]. In Slovenia, 0.44% of electricity demand was
provided by solar cells in 2011 [9]. Currently, around 80% of solar cells is made of polycrystaline or single
crystal silicon [10]. These are reffered to as first generation solar cells. Second generation solar cells comprise
of thin films of materials like amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride and copper indium (gallium) diselenide.
First and second generation solar cells use p-n monojunctions or heterojunctions to separate charge carriers.
Third generation solar cells include photoelectrochemical or dye-sensitized cells, organic cells and nano-
technology. Their working principles differ significantly from those of first and second generation cells. The
working mechanisms of novel cells require much less material than is needed for production of the first and
second generation solar cells. But these novel cells are not yet completely developed and their efficiencies
remain low, cases up to 10%, in comparison to first generation devices with typical efficiencies around 20%
and second generation devices with typical efficiencies between 10% and 19% [10, 11].
In this seminar we make a short glance at the history of PV in section 2. In section 3, we make a short
analysis of p-n junction in connection with its use in solar cells. We present the structure of a solar cell in
section 4. In the next section we explain basic physical principles of PV and we introduce some important
definitions considering PV. In section 6, the limiting efficiency of a single photovoltaic device is given. In
the next three sections, 7, 8 and 9, we discuss specifics of structure, physics and properties of three types
of solar cells: single crystal silicon solar cell, amorphous silicon solar cell and dye sensitized solar cell. We
also compare operation and efficiencies of devices in section 10.
3
Since 1970s, interests in renewable energy sources as alternative to fossil fuels have been growing. In the
late 1990s, production of solar cells expanded 15-25% per year, which also reduced their cost. Solar cells
have become competitive at remote locations, in navigation systems, telecomunications and as additional
power in grid connected loads at peak use [12].
where εs is the local permittivity of the semiconductor. We chose the origin of the longitudinal axis at
the interface between differently doped semiconductors. wp and wn are widths of charge regions on the
p- and n-side. According to equations 1 and 2, the built-in potential difference increases with increasing
doping, while the width of the SCR decreases. In solar cells both high potential difference and wide SCR
are needed for effective drift of charge carriers towards the right direction, so a compromise must be made
when choosing the doping level. The SCR is highly resistant part of p-n junction, while the bulk of the
junction has very low resistance for electric current. Any applied bias would have the highest drop in the
SCR.
A hole current flows from the n- to the p-side of the junction, known as hole generation current. It is
minority carrier current, because it results from generation of holes when electrons are thermally excited
from valence to conduction band on the n-side. A hole must be generated within a diffusion lenght from
SCR and when it reaches the SCR, it is immediately driven to the p-side by strong electric field. Similarly,
there flows an electron generation current from the p- to the n-side of the junction. Another hole current
flows from the p-side to the n-side of the junction, known as hole recombination current. It results from
the holes, that reach the SCR with sufficient energy to surmount the potential barrier of the SCR. The
number of such holes is proportional to e−q∆V /kB T and thus depends strongly on the potential step ∆V
across the junction. If a forward (positive) bias is applied, such that it raises the potential of the p-side
with respect to the n-side, the potential barrier is lowered and the recombination current is stronger. In
that case, the electric current flows with little resistance through the p-n junction, dominated by majority
carrier current. On the contrary, if a negative bias is applied, the potential barrier is increased and only
little current flows through the device. This is known as the rectifying action of a diode.
In equilibrium, when no external bias is applied, the net electric current is zero. When a forward bias
V is applied, the net charge current density, flowing in the direction of recombination currents, is given by
[14]
J = (Jhgen + Jegen )(eqV /kB T − 1), (3)
where Jhgen and Jegen are hole and electron generation current densities. The situation is considerably
altered, when a p-n junction within a photovoltaic material is illuminated. The generation currents, re-
sulting from photogenerated minority charge carriers, are increased. The so called photocurrent becomes
the dominant electric current, flowing in the opposite direction as recombination current. We take the
potential drop accross the junction to be the difference between the built-in bias Vbi and the applied bias
V , Vj = Vbi − V . We are trying to find solution for electric current density flowing through a photovoltaic
device under illumination and applied bias. In general, problem consists of solving a set of coupled dif-
ferential equations for the hole density, the electron density and the electrostatic potential, given specified
forms for the photogeneration, the recombination and the hole and electron currents [12]. It is a complex
4
problem, but analytic solutions can be found by using two approximations, which allow the hole and elec-
tron currents to be decoupled. The first one is so called depletion approximation, which assumes there
are no free charge carriers in the space charge region around the junction. The electric field vanishes at
fixed distances from the junction. Within the neutral regions away from the junction, majority carrier
densities have their equilibrium value and variations in minority carrier densities determine the current. In
neutral regions, there is no electric field and currents of minority carriers are only diffusive. The depletion
approximation allows the solutions in neutral p and n-regions to be decoupled.
In the second approximation we assume the recombination process to be linear in the minority carrier
density. It is sometimes called superposition approximation [12], because the effect of bias and illumination
are decoupled, so the solution to the current is the sum of both.
We give some of the important steps in solving the problem of electric current density. When a device
is illuminated with light with energy W , the rate of charge generation, g, is given by [12]
g(W, x) = (1 − R(W ))α(W )bs (W )e−α(W )x , (4)
where R is the reflectance of the material, bs (W ) is the incident photon flux, which will be explained in
section 5 and α(W ) is the absorption coefficient, which is given by the matrix element, calculated with use
of the Fermi golden rule [12]. Integrating over photon energies, we obtain the integrated charge generation
rate G. In the presence of both the electric field E and charge carrier density gradient, the carrier current
density can be written as the sum of a term proportional to the density gradient - diffusion current, and a
term proportional to the field - the drift current [12, 14]:
Jp (~r) = −qDp ∇p + qµp Ep and Jn (~r) = qDn ∇n + qµn En. (5)
Here, Jp denotes charge current density, as a consequence of motion of holes and Jn denotes charge current
density, as a consequence of motion of electrons. µp and µn are mobilities while Dp and Dn are the
corresponding diffusion constants of holes and electrons, respectively. If we combine equations 5 with the
steady state continuity equations, take the current generated by a spectrum containing a single wave lenght
and reduce the problem to one dimension, x, then the transport equations in the case of zero electric field
- in the neutral p- and n- regions - simplify to [12]:
d2 p p − p0 g(W, x) n2i
− + = 0, p0 = (6)
dx2 L2p Dp Nd
for holes in the n-region and
d2 n n − n0 g(W, x) n2i
− + = 0, n0 = (7)
dx2 L2n Dn Na
for electrons in the p-region. Lp and Ln stand for diffusion lenghts of holes and electrons, depending on
the charge carrier lifetime τ , p p
Lp = τp Dp , Ln = τn Dn . (8)
At the boundary with the SCR, the condition for density of holes is given by [12]
n2i qV /kB T
p − p0 = (e − 1), x = wn . (9)
Nd
The boundary condition at the outer surface is determined by the surface recombination rate Sp ,
dp
−Dp = Sp (p − p0 ). (10)
dx
It follows that the hole current in the n-region and the electron current in the p-region, which we obtain
in a similar way, can be written as [12]
dp dn
jp (W, x) = −qDp , jn (W, x) = qDn . (11)
dx dx
The current in the space charge region can be determined from carrier continuity. It can be written
as integral of difference between charge recombination rate U and charge generation rate G over the SCR:
[12] Z wn
Jscr = q (U − G)dx. (12)
−wp
5
This is equal for electrons and holes within the space charge region. The net current is given by the sum of
hole and electron currents at any point and is constant through the device in steady state. General solution
for p can be obtained analitically by solving equation 6. From 11 and after intergrating over energy, we
obtain general solution for Jp and similarly we obtain solution for Jn . We are not going to write down
the whole solutions, which can be found in [12]. There are two separate contributions to the net current
density. The first one is proportional to the incident spectral photon flux density and the second one is
proportional to eqV /kB T − 1 as a consequence of applied bias.
With solutions for current densities, we can calculate the dark current Jdark , the case where there is
no contribution from illumination, and the short-circuit current Jsc , the case where V = 0. The J is
illustrated in Figure 1 as a function of applied bias V . By adding short circuit current and dark current,
current-voltage characteristics of a solar cell, which will be discussed in section 5, is constructed:
J(V ) = Jsc − Jdark (V ) = Jsc − Jm,0 (eqV /mkB T − 1). (13)
Jm,0 is material-dependent constant and m is ideality factor that describes deviation from ideal diode
behavior with m = 1. The last term in expression 13 is indeed the same one obtained by general analysis
of p-n junctions [14]. The additional current density Jsc is a consequence of light illumination. The sign of
the currents is chosen so that photocurrent is positive. With increasing V the flux emmited from a solar
cell increases and the net current decreases. What is more, the latter expression provides the open-circuit
voltage - the voltage at which the current is zero,
mkB T Jsc
Voc = ln( + 1). (14)
q Jm,0
If the V is increased above the Voc , the cell begins to act like a light emmiting device. Voc must always be
less than Eg /q, where Eg is the band gap of the semiconductor used.
Maximum
power point
Current density
Jsc
Jm
Current density, J
Power
density
Vm Voc
Bias voltage, V
Figure 1: Current-voltage (black) and power-voltage (grey) characteristics of an ideal diode (ideal pho-
tovoltaic device). Vm and Jm denote voltage and current density at maximum power point. Reproduced
from [12].
6
The front contact has to be designed in a way that prevents shading of the front surface. Because the bulk
of the electron-hole pairs is generated near the surface, the position of p-n junction is also near the surface.
This prevents recombination of charge carriers before they reach the junction, where they are separated by
electric field.
5 Basic definitions
Module
A single solar cell area is typically about 100 cm2 , it generates a dc photovoltage of 0.5 -1 V and pho-
tocurrent of several amperes [12]. Because of low voltage and electric current, cells are connected into
modules, which produce standard voltage of 12 V. Modules are further connected into strings. Due to the
fluctuations in solar irradiation during the day, PV systems also include components for charge regulation
and storage. Parts of PV system are illustrated in Figure 3.
Power
PV generator conditioning Load
0V Storage
Module (Battery (dc)
or Grid (ac))
0
+12V
Figure 3: (a) Solar cell with surface contacts. (b) Cells conected in a module. (c) Modules are connected
in series into strings and in parallel into an array, to produce sufficient current and voltage. (d) Integration
of charge regulation and storage. Reproduced from [12].
Quantum efficiency
Quantum efficiency ηQE of a solar cell is the probability that an incident photon will deliver one electron
to the external circuit. The resulting short circuit photocurrent density depends upon quantum efficiency:
Z
Jsc = q bs (W )ηQE (W )dW . (15)
Here, q is unit charge, W denotes energy of photons and bs is the incident spectral photon flux density,
that is number of photons with energy between W and W + dW falling on a cell per unit area and per unit
time. The solar spectrum reaching surface of the Earth is presented in Figure 4.
Quantum efficiency is a property of a solar cell, which means it is related to absorption coefficient and effi-
ciency of charge separation but does not depend on incident spectrum. It is desirable to have a high ηQE at
energies where also solar photon flux density is high, that is somewhere between wavelenghts of 400 and 1300
nm.
7
By combining cells that operate best at differ-
ent wavelenghts, we can exploit larger part of so-
lar spectrum. These are so called tandem cells.
Although tandem originally referred to two cells,
it is now also used for arrangements with more
than two cells. Each cell in the arangement con-
verts a part of solar spectrum. The top cell
consists of a wide gap semiconductor. It con-
verts the short wavelength part of the spectrum
and transmits the other part to the cells below
[10].
Figure 4: Solar spectrum at the surface of the
Fill factor and efficiency
Earth. Reproduced from [15].
Current-voltage characteristics of a solar cells has a
point of maximum power, as seen in Figure 1. At the
point of maximum power density, we denote current density with Jm and voltage with Vm . The load, we
attach to the solar cell circuit, has the optimum resistance given by Vm /Jm . Jm and Vm should be as near
to Jsc and Voc as possible. We define the fill factor:
Jm Vm
FF = , (16)
Jsc Voc
which would be ideally one. For very good crystalline silicon solar cells, the fill factor is above 80% [10].
General efficiency η of a PV device is the ratio of maximum output power density to incident radiation
power density,
Jm Vm Jsc Voc F F
η= = . (17)
Ps Ps
For most cells, the efficiency is temperature dependent. With increasing temperature, the energy of charge
carriers is increased, leading to higher difussion current densities. The cell emits more strongly. According
to equation 14, with higher diffusion current density Jm,0 , the open-circuit voltage is lowered, which leads
to lower efficiency. Efficiencies are measured under Standard Test Conditions (STC), that is Air Mass 1.5
spectrum (Air Mass is lenght of the light path to the Earth surface relative to the path at highest position of
the sun), incident power density of 1000 W/m2 and temperature of 25◦ C. The efficiencies of solar modules
are always somewhat lower than the laboratory efficiencies of single solar cells.
Parasitic resistances
Every solar cell has two parasitic resistances, the series resistance Rs and the parallel or shunt resistance
Rsh . The series resistance is the resistance of the material and contacts of the cell, through which electric
current flows. Parallel resistance results from current leakage because of imperfect rectifying action. For
highly efficient cell Rs should be as low and Rsh as high as possible, otherwise the fill factor is considerably
lowered.
8
maximum at energy gap of 1.4 eV [12]. Dividing the maximum power by the power coming from the sun,
we obtain the maximum efficiency of 33% for a two-band photoconverter [12].
As can be seen from equation 15, the efficiency depends on the shape of solar spectrum bs (W ), which
varies slightly with the composition of atmosphere at different places on earth at different times. Neverthe-
less, the most important is the temperature of the light source - the Sun. If the Sun had lower temperature,
the optimum band gap and the maximum efficiency would both be lower. Clearly, if the temperature of the
Sun was equal to the temperature of the cell, there would be no net photoconversion. On the other hand,
if the temperature of the Sun would increase relative to the cell, so would the photoconversion efficiency.
The main limiting factor to efficiency of PV is that only part of the solar spectrum that matches the
band gap can be converted into electricity. No photons with energy less than Eg contribute to the output
power. Absorbed photons with energy W > Eg contribute only qV < Eg of electrical energy and the rest
of the energy is lost as heat. The efficiency of PV cells can be enhanced considerably by applying different
techniques, for example multijunction cells [10, 12], multiple band gaps [18], multiple absorption, light
concentration etc. Nevertheless, the efficiency is limited at least in the thermodynamic limit. Maximum
obtainable conversion efficiency of solar radiation into electricity can be roughly estimated by using Carnot
relation [10]. For the temperature of the Sun of 5760 K and the temperature of surroundings of 300 K, the
maximum efficiency would be 85% at cell temperature of 2470 K [10].
9
8 Thin-film solar cells
Figure 5: Schematic structures and band diagrams of three types of thin film devices: a-Si (top left), CIGS
(top right) and CdTe (bottom). Reproduced from [10].
Because crystalline solar cells are expensive to produce, alternative photovoltaic materials are being re-
searched that can be grown more cheaply. Various methods are used to deposit semiconductor layers as
thin films directly onto useable substrates such as glass, metals, roofing sheets and plastics [19]. So far,
amorphous silicon (a-Si) has been most widely used, for example in small consumer devices such as calcu-
lators and in solar power plants. Apart from a-Si, polycristalline cadmium telluride (CdTe), polycristalline
copper indium disellenide (CuInSe2 and related compounds, often denoted by CIGS) and microcrystalline
thin film silicon (p-Si) have also been well developed. These materials all have higher efficiencies (CdTe
has efficiency above 16% [10] and the other two have efficiencies above 19% [10]) compared to a-Si (with
efficiency below 10% [10]). However, high efficiencies of devices made of CIGS and CdTe were achieved in
laboratories and are connected with complicated deposition techniques, not really adapted for the indus-
trial large-scale production. There are several technical problems making production of efficient modules
difficult [10]. Some elements used, for example In, Ga and Te are rather rare and hence long term use may
be questionable. Schematic structures and band diagrams of a-Si, CIGS and CdTe solar cells are presented
in Figure 5. a-Si solar cell includes a p-i-n junction, junction of p-doped whereas the other two include
various heterojunctions. The p-i-n junction is similar to p-n junction, the only difference is that there is a
region of intrinsic semiconductor between p-doped and n-doped regions.
Thin film cells are often multijunction devices - they include more than one junction between differently
doped semiconductors. The use of heterojunctions increases efficiency of the devices in comparison to
monojunctions, because thin film materials often cannot be doped equally well n-type and p-type. In figure
5 we see that CIGS solar cell includes heterojunctions between CIGS and CdS and between CdS and ZnO.
The highly doped CdS layer with a band gap of 2.4 eV serves as a window, which reflects the electrons
and therefore reduces losses due to surface recombination of charge carriers generated in CIGS by short
wavelenght light. The CdS also enables transport of electrons with minimum series resistance. However,
heterojunctions have some disadvantages that lower the efficiency of a cell. The main problem is that
defect states, encouraging the non-radiative recombination of charge carriers, appear at the heterojunction
because of differences between crystal structure or lattice constants of the two materials [12].
In comparison to single crystal materials, polycristalline and amorphous materials contain much more
defects which act as traps and recombination centres. Consequently, diffusion lenghts are shorter, doping
is more difficult, resistivity is increased and physical parameters like conductivity, minority carrier lifetime
10
and diffusion constant become carrier density dependent. The latter makes transport equations as well as
their solutions rather complicated. Suitable thin film materials should be good absorbers so the cell can be
thin, solving the problem of small diffusion length, therefore allowing less pure materials to be used. Here,
we discuss some physics and properties of an a-Si solar cell.
11
and therefore a-Si may perform better in warmer enviroments. Typically, the efficiency is reduced by about
30% in the first 6 months of operation and the fill factor falls by about 10%.
12
Figure 7: Left: Structure and operation of a dye-sensitized solar cell. The TCO glass at the sides is not
sketched. The incident light excites an electron in a dye molecule into a higher state. Such an excited
electron tunnels onto a TiO2 molecule. The electron then diffuses to the end of the electrode, enters the
external circuit and re-enters the cell through the opposite electrode. The oxidized dye molecule is reduced
by the electrolyte and the electrolyte is reduced by the re-entering electron. Reproduced from [23]. Right:
Surface of a mesoporous anatase film (scanned by SEM) prepared from a hydrothermally processed TiO2
colloid. Scale is 50 nm. Reproduced from [22].
13
10 Comparison of PV devices
Table 1 presents some efficiencies, illuminated areas, open-circuit voltages, short-circuit currents and fill
factors of different types of solar cells. Table 2 presents the same characteristics for some PV modules. The
existing modules have somewhat lower efficiencies than single solar cell devices. The highest cell efficiency
(over 30%) was achieved with multijunction devices, where one of the materials used is GaAs. This is not
surprising as we have already said that GaAs is a strong absorber with nearly ideal band gap.
In general, devices with higher short-circuit current have lower open-circuit voltage. It is because Jsc
and Voc depend on the width of the band gap - the Jsc increases and the Voc decreases with increasing band
gap, as we have mentioned earlier.
Silicon
Si (crystalline) 25.0 0.5 4.00 0.705 42.7 82.8 Sandia (3/99)
Si (multicrystalline) 20.4 0.5 1.002 0.664 38.0 80.9 NREL (5/04)
Si (thin film transfer) 16.7 0.4 4.017 0.645 33.0 78.2 FhG-ISE (7/01)
III-V cells
GaAs (crystalline) 26.1 0.8 0.998 1.038 29.7 84.7 FhG-ISE (12/07)
GaAs (thin film) 26.1 0.8 1.001 1.045 29.5 84.6 FhG-ISE (07/08)
GaAs (multicrystalline) 18.4 0.5 4.011 0.994 23.2 79.7 NREL (11/95)
InP (crystalline) 22.1 0.7 4.02 0.878 29.5 85.4 NREL (4/90)
Thin film chalcogenide
CIGS (cell) 19.4 0.6 0.994 0.716 33.7 80.3 NREL (1/08)
CdTe (cell) 16.7 0.5 1.032 0.845 26.1 75.5 NREL (9/01)
Amorphous/nanocrystalline Si
Si (amorphous) 9.5 0.3 1.070 0.859 17.5 63.0 NREL (4/03)
Si (nanocrystalline) 10.1 0.2 1.199 0.539 24.4 76.6 JQA (12/97)
Photochemical
Dye sensitised 10.4 0.3 1.004 0.729 22.0 65.2 AIST (8/05)
Organic
Organic polymer 5.15 0.3 1.021 0.876 9.39 62.5 NREL (12/06)
Multijunction devices
GaInP/GaAs/Ge 32.0 1.5 3.989 2.622 14.37 85.0 NREL (1/03)
GaInP/GaAs 30.3 4.0 2.488 14.22 85.6 JQA (4/96)
GaAs/CIS (thin film) 25.8 1.3 4.00 — — — NREL (11/89)
Table 1: Efficiencies and other characteristics of different solar cells. NREL = National renewable energy
laboratory, FhG-ISE = Fraunhofer Institut für Solare Energiesysteme; JQA = Japan Quality Assurance;
AIST = Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. Stability of organic
and dye-sensitised solar cells was not investigated. Reproduced from [11].
Classification Efficiency Area Voc I sc FF Test centre
(%) (cm2) (V) (A) (%) (and date)
Si (crystalline) 22.9 0.6 778 5.60 3.97 80.3 Sandia (9/96)
Si (large crystalline) 20.3 0.6 16300 66.1 6.35 78.7 Sandia (8/07)
Si (multicrystalline) 15.5 0.4 1017 14.6 1.37 78.6 Sandia (10/94)
Si (thin-film polycrystalline) 8.2 0.2 661 25.0 0.320 68.0 Sandia (7/02)
CIGSS 13.5 0.7 3459 31.2 2.18 68.9 NREL (8/02)
CdTe 10.9 0.5 4874 26.21 3.24 62.3 NREL (4/00)
a-Si/a-SiGe/a-SiGe (tandem) 10.4 0.5 905 4.353 3.285 66.0 NREL (10/98)
Table 2: Efficiencies and other characteristics of different modules. Reproduced from [11].
11 Conclusion
Solar cells currently used contain p-n junctions. Theoretically, with no reflection of light, perfect absorption
and no losses inside the material or at the contacts, the efficiency of a solar cell containing a single junction
could reach 33%. The actual maximum efficiencies are around 25% with use of the best materials, which are
very expensive. Various alternatives to the expensive devices are being reasearched. The main goal for the
future is to further reduce the cost of PV modules, so the PV can be more widely used. Apart from reducing
amount of material used, the price is also reduced indirectly by increasing the efficiency of PV devices.
The efficiency is most effectively increased by using tandem cells in combination with light concentration
systems, where mirrors are used to focus sunlight on to the surface of PV modules. Efficiencies above 30%
are possible [10]. The limiting factor to the efficiency is heating of the system exposed to light irradiation
with power of several hundreds of suns.
In the past 10 years, the price of all known types of PV modules has fallen significantly. For example,
the price of electricity produced by c-Si modules has fallen from ∼0.40 e/kWh to ∼0.30 e/kWh and for
14
a-Si modules the price has fallen from ∼0.20 e/kWh to ∼0.15 e/kWh. The price of electricity produced
by CIGS modules was ∼0.17 e/kWh in 2003 and has fallen to ∼0.09 e/kWh until 2010 [26]. All of the
mentioned modules have a lifetime of at least 20 years [10, 27]. During this time the efficiency falls for
about 20% (see, for example [27]).
There are many installation possibilities for PV modules, among the best known being installation on
the roofs of the houses. In urban areas, the modules may be connected to the grid system, while at remote
locations, they are independent systems and have to be combined with a good charge storage system. There
are some ideas for the future, considering installation of PV, for example in large plain deserts, which are
extremely sunny locations. The electric energy produced in deserts would have to be transported to other
parts of the world, which could be done by using power lines, or transport of liquified hydrogen. Water is
split into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis and hydrogen can then serve as the energy carrier [10].
References
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