GMR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

• Solar energy plays a major role in present

days.
• It is renewable source of energy.
• This presentation is about the new type of
solar cell.
• It is 5 times efficient than conventional solar
cells.
 NANOTECHNOLOGY
• Nanotechnology is about building things atom by
atom, molecule by molecule.

• Nanotechnology is billionth of a matter.

• It is defined as the study of functional structures

with dimensions in the range of 1-100 nanometer.
 Working of solar cell
• These are photovoltaic (PV) cells based on
crystalline silicon.

• It absorbs visible sunlight and transferred to

the semiconductor material.

• This energy knocks electrons to flow freely,

which results current.

• Current is drawn from the metal contacts in PV

cell.
FIGURE SHOWING THE WORKING OF SOLAR CELL
Why Nanotechnology in solar cell
•The conventional solar cells are less efficient.

•Their efficiency is very poor in cloudy days.

•To overcome above problems, A new type of solar cell

embedded with NANOTECHNOLOGY is developed,
which is INFRARED PLASTIC SOLAR CELL.
Division of sunlight
 INFRARED PLASTIC SOLAR
CELL

•A plastic solar cell can turn

the suns power into electric
energy even on a cloudy day.
•It uses specially designed nano particles
called quantum dots.

QUANTUM DOT
•The quantum dots with a polymer to make the plastic
that can detect energy in the infrared.

QUANTUM DOT LAYER

INFRARED PLASTIC SOLAR
CELL

•This plastic material can harness the sun’s

invisible infrared rays.

•These plastic solar cells can be taken

everywhere.

•It reduces the need to PLUG IN for power.

 WORKING OF PLASTIC SOLAR CELL

• It requires semiconductor
nanorods (7 nm by 60nm).

•The heart of a solar cell

is a 200-nm-thick film.

•It consists of cadmium selenide (CdSe) nanorods and

blended with P3HT(poly-3hexylthiophene).
• A layer only 200 nanometers
thick is sandwiched between
electrodes.

•It can produce 0.7V at

present
 •Aluminium coating acts
as the back electrode .

•When nanorods absorb light they generate an electron

and an electron hole.

•Electron is collected by alluminium electrode.

•The hole is transferred to the plastic and conveyed to

the electrode, creating a current.
 IMPROVEMENTS
• Better light collection and concentration
employed in the solar cells.

• In plastic cells nano rods are closely packed

and transfer their electrons more directly to
the electrolyte.

• They also hope to tune the nano rods to

absorb different colors to span the spectrum
of sun light.
 APPLICATIONS
•Telecommunication systems:

• Radio transceivers on mountain tops, or

telephone boxes in the country can often be
solar powered.
•Hydrogen powered car:

Hydrogen car painted with the film could convert

solar energy into electricity to continually recharge
the car’s battery
• Coating the cell :

• Chip coated in the material

could power cell phone

• A couple of drops if the

titanium dioxide suspension
is then added.

• The slide is then set aside

to dry for one minute.
Ocean navigation aids:

Ocean navigation aids: many lighthouses and most

buoys are now powered by solar cells.
 ADVANTAGES

• These are considered to be 30% more

efficient.
• Their efficiency is same even on cloudy days.
• These are very compact and more practical in
application.
• These cells avoids effects like pollution.
• Fabrication is easy.
 LIMITATIONS

• They are very costly.

• Relatively shorter life span when continuously

exposed to sunlight.

• It requires higher maintenance and constant

monitoring.
 CONCLUSION
• Plastic solar cells help in exploiting the
infrared radiation.
• More effective when compared to
conventional solar cells.
• They can even work on cloudy days.
• Though at present cost is a major
drawback, it can be solved in the near
future.
 REFERENCES

1.Introduction to Nanotechnology:Charles P Poole,Frank J Owens

2.Nanomaterials:synthesis,properties and applications:Edelstein,

A.S.cammarata

3.Solar energy-fundamentals, design, modeling, applications :

G.N.Tiwari