Energy Conversion:Solar cells

Presented by Maryam kiani

Energy Conversion:Solar cells

PV solar cells

PEC

PV solar cells
Conversion of solar energy into electrical energy using photo voltaic
cells is most successful technologies for energy generation.
The energy flux towards the earth surface is about 3*10^24j/year.
A 1 % of coverage of the land on the earth with solar cells with
10% conversion efficiency would be able to produce about 26 TW
of energy,which is sufficient to cover our current energy needs.

Solar cell efficiency

Increasing solar cell efficiency while maintaining a low production
cost has been the primary objective of solar energy conversion.
single-junction,single crystaline cells
these cells offer 13 % conversion efficiency
Multiple junction solar cells
Multiple junction solar cells have reached 27% conversion efficiency
InGaAsN-based solar cell
InGaAsN-based solar cell systems have achieved 3% efficiency

Sililcon solar cell

conventional silicon solar cell makes use of semiconductor diods
based on p-n junction
solar cells are usually characterized by

current voltage curve

short circuit current ,Isc
Open circuit voltage ,Voc
fill factor, ff

ff=Pmax/(Voc*Isc)
Pmax is the electrical power delivered by the sollar cell at
maximum power point(MPP)

Solar power coversion efficiency

over all solar power coversion efficiency can be calculated by

=Pmax/(Is*As)
As is the area of the solar cell
Is is the irradiance of the input light (W/m^2)
which is usually taken as 1000 W/m^2 for AM(air mass) at 1.5
AM is defined as
AM=1/Cosa with a as angle between the overhead and the
actual position of the sun

Other semiconductor eg Ga As, Cd Te,CuInSe

Other semiconductor materials have been used for solar cells in

Bulk crystalline form

Thin film

Poly crystaline form

these material tend to be more costly even some of them have
better efficiency than Si Solar cells
The relatively high cost of manufacturing commercial silicon cellls and
the use of toxic chemicals in their manufacturing have limitted them
from widespread use.
These aspects have prompted the search for

environmentlly friendly

low cost solar cells

Photoelectrochemical cells
Photoelectrochemical cells provide a powerful means for converting
light energy into chemical energy that can be stored in molecules
such as hydrogen through electrochemical reaction
Key components of PEC are

Electrolytes

Electrods(cathod and anode

Redox chemical reactions take place at electrodes
Redox chemical reactions involving electron transfer

Potential advantages of nanomaterial used in PEC including

Large surface area

Fast diffusion
Reaction Time
Ease of Surface modificayions
Possibility for manipulating material properties by Structural control

Performance of PEC
Performance of PEC depends strongly on the properties of the

Photo anode

Especially the bandgap

Band edge positions with respect to vacume level