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
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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
