1.

Solar energy :–
Both light and heat that come from the sun
The energy received from sun is the original source of most of the
energy available on earth
Sun also heats the earth's surface and the Earth heats the air above it
This is the cause for winds which is also harnessed (discussed in wind
energy point)
Sunlight provides necessary light and energy to plants and
chromophores in the food chain
The chromophores absorb the sun's radiation and convert it into
energy through a process called photosynthesis
Continued…..
• This photosynthesis is also responsible for all of the fossil fuels
generated on Earth
• Harnessed the sun's energy in many different ways
• Among them Photovoltaic cells which convert sunlight into electricity
are excellent examples of solar energy conversion devices
• Installed on roof tops, solar fields, over large water canals, etc.
• Many forms of efficient solar cells are under development and the
market for these devices is growing continuously. (Silicon, DSSC,
Polymer, Perovskite)
• In general there are two ways to use this sunlight to make useful
forms of energy
• One is to use photovoltaic panels to make electricity
• Second, simpler approach is to convert sunlight to heat for warming a
building, making hot water, cooking, or producing "steam" that can
power an electrical generator
• 2. WIND ENERGY: In a wind-electric turbine, the turbine blades capture the
kinetic energy of the wind.
• The captured wind energy moves the blades or rotates the blades, which spins a
shaft that is connected to a generator.
• In this way, the rotational energy is converted into electrical energy.
• Overall wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical
power.
• This mechanical power can be used for grinding grains or pumping water from
wells or reservoirs, or can be converted into electricity by a generator.
 Working of Wind Turbines
• When wind blows, the blades/wings are lifted and begin rotating
• The attached shafts will then spin the gears that speed up the rotation of the
blades
• This will convert the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical power.
• The mechanical power runs the generator
• The generator converts this mechanical power to electricity
• This is sent from the bottom of the tower to the grids and substations
Major advantages of wind energy generation
• These turbines can be installed in remote locations such as hill tops, coastal
areas, deserts, off-shore in oceans as shown in the picture.
• Energy generated by these turbines are then taken to main grids from any of
these remote locations.
• Low maintenance cost and ease of operation
• Long lifetime of several decades
• Can be upgraded and integrated with newer technologies

• Suzlon that comes for placements to our campus, they are a leading company for renewable energy products and solutions
especially in the Wind Energy & Solar energy sector.
3. Hydro power or Hydroelectricity
It is the utilization of the force of water or in other words
hydropower to generate electricity.
• Very large Hydroelectric power plants are being
constructed in many parts of the world
• Includes a large reservoir of water constructed via a dam
that harnesses the energy of water falling from a great
height.
• Additionally, it can also utilize the kinetic energy of flowing
water as in case of run-of-the-water in large rivers for
hydroelectricity generation.
Continued…..
• This does not generate lots of energy as a dam but it can
continuously generate electricity.
• Hydropower in itself is non-polluting and was a preferred
way to generate electricity
• Hydropower provides benefits beyond electricity
generation by providing flood control, irrigation support,
fish / aquatic life preservation, clean drinking water,
artificial water bodies / lakes creation, etc.
• It has few disadvantages also because large dams
construction may have huge environmental impacts.
4. Geothermal energy
• It is in the form of heat that is harnessed for generating
electricity and heating purposes mainly.
• Obtained from reservoirs of natural hot water that exists
at very different temperatures
• They are at varying depths (and heights) below the Earth's
surface.
• It is considered to be very safe, reliable, available below
the earth’s surface, easily accessible
• The are very-economical as compared to burning fossil
fuels.
Continued…..
• Geothermal energy is obtained from hot springs, lava, and
fumaroles (opening of an volcano/earth).
• Fumaroles can sometimes be dangerous because they may
emit poisonous gases also.
• The high temperature and pressure within the Earth's
interior causes some rocks to melt.
• This melted part which is lighter than the surrounding
rocks starts moving upward and is harnessed for various
applications.
• Modern closed-loop geothermal power plants emit no
greenhouse gases.
5. Biomass energy
It is a renewable organic material obtained from both plants and
animals.
It is used for the production of both electric and/or heat energy.
This can be easily harnessed even at remote villages, hence,
biomass energy generation in Indian context is very important .
Biomass has been utilized for electric power generation, heating,
and also for combined heat and power generation.
Trees take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, convert it into
biomass and when they die, it is released back into the
atmosphere. This is the renewable cycle of nature.
Landfill garbages can also be cleaned up to generate this form of
energy.
Continued…..
• Biomass can be converted into electric power through several
methods and the most common among all is the direct combustion of
biomass material, such as agricultural waste or woods.
• Other options include gasification, pyrolysis, and anaerobic digestion.
• Biorefinery process can also be used as a double resource utilization
for different biomass treatment and handling methods into one
system.
• This method allows the production of different components from the
same biomass and hence the entire process is more viable
economically and also reduces the waste generated.
• Biorefinery involves the integration of different biomass utilization
and sending the feed to biomass based energy generation.
• One of the disadvantages of biomass combustion is that it produces
unwanted gas / smoke emissions.
 What are main types and sources of energy?
Renewable Non-renewable

1. Solar Energy 1. Coal

2. Wind Energy 2. Oil
3. Hydropower 3. Natural gas
4. Geothermal 4. Nuclear
5. Biomass

Renewable energy-Any natural energy resource that can replace itself quickly and dependably.

Non-renewable energy-Source of energy that will eventually run out. Mostly all the fossil fuels.

8/27/2022
 Main types of renewable sources of energy
1. Solar Energy
•The energy obtained directly from sunlight
•This sunlight is converted into electricity, heat and light

2. Wind Energy
•The energy is obtained from blowing air, harnessed using wind turbines
•Utilized extensively to produce electricity even at remote areas

3. Hydropower
•The energy obtained from the force of water Lower Subansiri
•Hydropower plants on large dam structures generate electricity

4. Geothermal Energy
•This energy is obtained from the heat generated by the Earth
•Primarily to produce electricity and can provide heat and hot water
Forests, Agriculture, Sewage,
5. Biomass Solid waste, Animal residue,
•This energy is stored in the organic matter of the earth Industrial residue
•Mainly used to generate electricity
 Main types of non-renewable sources of energy
1. Coal
• Comes from the remains of plants that died hundreds of millions of years ago
• Has the highest level of carbon of all fossil fuels

2. Oil
•Obtained from the plant remains being decomposed for several millions years
•Extracted in crude form, refined to obtain gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, chemicals, etc.

3. Natural Gas
• Formed from the remains of sea plants and animals that died millions of years ago
• Mainly composed of methane
Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant
4. Nuclear Energy
•Energy released when atoms’ nuclei are fused together (fusion) or split apart (fission)
•Nuclear power plants produce electricity through nuclear fission
1. COAL
• Coal is a primary form of solid fuel along with wood and
peat and is available in three forms lignite, bituminous and
anthracite.
• Coal is thought to have been formed from the
decomposition of plants over several millions of years.
• Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary
rock and has been used for a very long time as a fuel.
• Also storing and transportation of coal is very easy.
Continued…..
Coal is mostly comprised of carbon (75% including moisture) & it also
has small amounts of other elements; chiefly hydrogen (4.5%), sulfur
(2.5%), oxygen (6.9%), nitrogen(1.25%) and remaining chlorine and
ash (carbon, metals and minerals - ~10%).
Among all the fossil fuels, it has the highest amount of carbon
content.
It is a nonrenewable fossil fuel that is combusted and used to
generate electricity.
The major disadvantage of coal combustion is its damaging impact
on the environment.
Burning coal is a major source of pollution and greenhouse gas
emissions.
Several unwanted gases such as carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide
including few heavy metals like mercury are released that are also
responsible for acid rains.
• 2. Crude Oil

• The second point is about the main topic of this course, i.e.
Oil or Crude oil or Petroleum.
• It is generally a mixture of carbon containing alkane
derivatives (C1 to C40 chains), that maybe linear and
branched chains, naphthalenes, aromatic hydrocarbons that
occur naturally in oil fields.
• Low boiling fractions are composed of alkanes in almost all
petroleum / crude oil.
Continued…..
• Composition varies based on the geographical location and the
source & there may be presence of higher boiling fractions.
• Crude oil obtained from certain places also consists of nitrogen,
oxygen, sulfur and also metallic constituents in addition to the
hydrocarbons.
• Crude oil has numerous unwanted impurities like heavy metals,
waxes, salts, etc. Crude oil with a high sulfur content is
considered “sour” and low-sulfur oil is “sweet”.
• Cyclic alkanes are also present in the crude oil.
• These chemical fuels constitute >90% of world energy
requirements.
3. Natural gas
• It mainly consists of methane gas.
• It also has first six alkanes in approximately 97% but chiefly
contains methane, followed by ethane, propane and then
higher alkanes.
• Other gases such as water vapour, hydrogen, nitrogen,
carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide are also present in
varying quantities in natural gas.
• Since the natural gas generally flows easily up through wells
to the surface it is not very difficult to get it.
Continued…..
• With newer technologies, natural gas is also produced from
shale and other types of sedimentary rock formations
• This can be done by forcing water, chemicals, and sand
down a well under high pressure.
• This has been practiced and is hugely successful in USA and
it is now a oil exporting nation.
• Natural gas is an important source of fuel since it releases
low levels of emissions thereby reducing acid rain and
greenhouse gases emissions.
4. Nuclear energy
• Nuclear energy, is generated from fusion or fission reaction
process.
• India also has been setting up nuclear power plants and the
recent is of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil nadu.
• In a nuclear reactor the nuclear chain reactions occur that
produces large amount of heat through a physical process
called fission.
• Splitting U235/Pu239 by neutron bombardment give fission
products (an unstable U236/Pu240) atom that releases heat
energy (Kr92, Ba141, U236, Pu240, Xe134, Zr103).
Continued…..
• The large heat energy is used to make steam that spins a
turbine to create or produce carbon-free electricity.
• The three most widely used fissile isotopes are uranium-
233, uranium-235 and plutonium-239.
• There are several disadvantages of this method such as an
explosion at a nuclear fission power plant can spread
radioactive fuel into the environment.
• Also the radioactive wastes generated in the plants cannot
be decomposed easily and can be hazard to life for
thousands of years.
ENERGY
 Solar Cell

Semiconductor???

❖ Photovoltaic effect:
Light energy → electrical energy.

❖Active light absorbing material:

Semiconductor. Eg: Silicon
 Solar Cell/ Photovoltaic cell

Basic component of a solar cell:

❖ Light Absorber: converting incident photons to electron and holes.
❖ Carrier Collector/s: capturing the carriers (electron and holes).
❖ Metal Contacts: transferring the carriers to the circuit.
Materials Used in Solar Cell
❖ The materials which are used for this purpose must have band gap
close to 1.4ev. Commonly used materials are-
❖ Silicon.
❖ GaAs.
❖ CdTe.
❖ CuInSe2

Criteria for Materials to be Used in Solar Cell

❖ Must have band gap from 1ev to 1.8ev.
❖ It must have high optical absorption.
❖ It must have high electrical conductivity.
❖ The raw material must be available in abundance and the cost of
the material must be low.
V-I Characteristics of a Photovoltaic Cell

Jsc→ Short circuit current density

Voc→ Open circuit voltage
FF→ Fill factor
Pin→ Incident power
Advantages of Solar Cell
❖No pollution
❖Long lasting
❖Less maintenance cost.
Disadvantages of Solar Cell
❖ High capital cost
❖ During cloudy day, the energy cannot
be produced and also at night we will
not get solar energy.

Application of Solar Energy

❖ Domestic usage
❖ Space application
❖ H2 fuel generation
❖ Wearable devices
Generation of Solar Cell
 Silicon Solar Cell

Based on type of crystal used, silicon solar cell and be classified in three type
1 Monocrystalline Silicon Cells
2 Polycrystalline Silicon Cells
3 Amorphous Silicon Cells

Monocrystalline silicon cells is produced from pure silicon. Since the

monocrystalline Silicon is pure and defect free, the efficiency of cell will be higher.

Polycrystalline solar cell, liquid silicon is used as a raw materials and polycrystalline
silicon was obtained followed by solidification process. The materials contains various
crystalline size. Hence efficiency of this type cell is less than monocrystalline cell

Amorphous Silicon is obtained by depositing silicon film on the substrate like glass
plate. The layer thickness amounts to less than 1 m that’s why their efficiency is lower
than other two type of cells. This are mainly use in smart watches and pocket calculators
Advantages
❖ Matured PV technology
❖ Highly Durable
❖ Have highest commercial
efficiency
❖ potentially could be used
indoors (amorphous)
Disadvantages
❖ Very expensive
❖ There is lots of waste materials
produced when silicon is
removed during processing
❖ At high temperature performance
degrade
 Organic Photovoltaic Cells
❖An organic photovoltaic cell is a class of solar cell that uses conductive
polymers or small organic molecule for light absorption and charge
transport.
❖This small organic molecule can donate or accept electron
❖Advantage
❖Flexible!
❖can be deposited on different materials
❖Many possible combinations
❖Inexpensive to produce
❖ Disadvantage
❖Low efficiency (at least so far)
❖Not very stable
❖no effective protective coatings yet
 Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (Grätzel cell)
❖ A dye sensitized Solar cell is a new kind of relatively low cost solar cell with great potential as its
materials are considerably cheaper and it is simple to make.
❖ It is based on a semiconductor formed between a photo-sensitized anode and an electrolyte ,
a photoelectrochemical system
❖ DSSCs are made of three parts: dye, TiO2, and liquid electrolyte
 Working principle of DSSC

1. Photo-excitation of dye
2. Injection of e to semiconductor
conduction band (CB)
3. e - transport through CB, TCO
and external circuit
4. Electrolyte reduced at cathode
5. Dye regenerated by electrolyte
6. Cell voltage corresponds to ΔV
between CB edge energy (Ec )
and redox potential of
electrolyte
Advantage Disadvantage
❖ Easy to make ❖ Low efficiencies (so far)
❖ Semi-flexible and semi-transparent ❖ Requires expensive materials like Pt
❖ Work in low light ❖ Uses liquids.. to makes it difficult to use
❖ potentially could be used indoors in all weather
 Perovskite Solar Cell
ABX3 type of materials (CaTiO3)

❖ A site : Organic/ Inorganic cation: monovalent (MA, FA, Cs)

❖ B site : Heavy metal cation : divalent (Pb +2, Sn +2)
❖ X site: Anions : Halides (I-, Br-, Cl-)

Why Perovskite solar cell ? Disadvantage of Perovskite :

❖ Facile low temperature solution- ❖ Ion migration
based fabrication method ❖ Environmental and health
❖ Superior absorption coefficient, Problem
❖ Chemical stability Issues
❖ Tunable bandgap
❖ Better charge carrier lifetime
❖ Low exciton binding energy
❖ High efficiency
Device Structure perovskite solar cell

❖ Metal electrode: aluminium

❖ Hole transport layer: NiOx , PEDOT: PSS
❖ Absorber layer: Methyl Ammonium Lead
Halide(CH3NH3PbX3)
❖ Electron transport layer: PC61BM, ICBA,
C60
❖ Possible absorber layers: CH3NH3PbI3,
CH3NH3PbBr3 , etc.,

17
 Tandem Solar cell
❖ Tandem solar cell are comprised of two or more cells and are
designed to absorb the entire range of the solar light by the
successive cells

Why Tandem Solar Cell

❖ Thermalization losses
❖ Sub-band gap losses
❖ Surpassing Shockley-Queisser Limit

After Tandem
 Structure of Tandem Solar Cell
❖At the Top cell the band gap is highest to absorb the low wave length radiation.
❖Then decreases the bottom cell is of lowest band gap materials. It will absorbed
the most radiation and gives the maximum current
 Perovskite Solar Cell
ABX3 type of materials (CaTiO3)

❖ A site : Organic/ Inorganic cation: monovalent (MA, FA, Cs)

❖ B site : Heavy metal cation : divalent (Pb +2, Sn +2)
❖ X site: Anions : Halides (I-, Br-, Cl-)

Why Perovskite solar cell ? Disadvantage of Perovskite :

❖ Facile low temperature solution- ❖ Ion migration
based fabrication method ❖ Environmental and health
❖ Superior absorption coefficient, Problem
❖ Chemical stability Issues
❖ Tunable bandgap
❖ Better charge carrier lifetime
❖ Low exciton binding energy
❖ High efficiency
 25.8%

<1/6 of
Si
2 years
❑ Solution Processable coating technique

Deposition chamber

Characterisation chamber

Fabrication chamber

Glove box System

Thermal Vacuum evaporator
Solar simulator and measurement system
Device Structure perovskite solar cell

❖ Metal electrode: aluminium

❖ Hole transport layer: NiOx , PEDOT: PSS
❖ Absorber layer: Methyl Ammonium Lead
Halide(CH3NH3PbX3)
❖ Electron transport layer: PC61BM, ICBA,
C60
❖ Possible absorber layers: CH3NH3PbI3,
CH3NH3PbBr3 , etc.,

34
 Solution Processable coating technique

HTL Coating Perovskite Coating

FTO

NIOx
Annealing

Annealing

Perovskite
ETL Coating

PC61BM

Annealing

Thermal Deposition
Silver

Annealing