Solar cell technologies

The majority of important semiconducting materials are isoelectronic with elemental silicon. Important semiconductor materials include the III-V (13-15) materials such as GaAs or InP, and II-VI (12-16) materials such as CdS or ZnSe (Table 1). These compound semiconductors are most often formed by combining elements displaced on either side of silicon by one place (i.e., Ill = Ga or In and V = N or As for a III-V material) or two places (i.e., II = Zn or Cd and VI = S or Se for a II-VI material) in the periodic table. Other materials are of specialist importance, especially ternary materials such as CuInE2 (E = S and Se), which find applications in solar cell technologies, as do materials of III-VI composition such as InxS, although their properties are often complicated by the potential for the formation of a wide range of similar phases. 

Harold J. Hovel, Introduction Carrier Collection, Spectral Response, and Photocurrent Solar Cell Electrical Characteristics Efficiency Thickness Other Solar Cell Devices Radiation Effects Temperature and Intensity Solar Cell Technology... 

General Description of Solar Cell Technology 8.2.1 From Past to Present... 

The recorded development of solar cell technology begins with the 1839 research of French experimental physicist Antoine-Edmond Becquerel [46,47]. At the age of nineteen he discovered the... 

University of Delaware set a record, in mid 2007, of 42.8% efficiency in a CPV cell. Their goal is to hit 50%. Shell and BP are also active in solar cell technology. 

Figure 9. Flexible Solar Cell Technology Incorporated into a Military Tent...

The dye-sensitized solar cell technology developed at the EPFL contains broadly five components ... 

Green M. A., Operating Principles Solar Cells Technology and System Applications, Univ. of New South Wales, Kensington (1992). 

Alternatives to biomimicry include materials based approaches as shown in Fig. 4.25. Mallouk has used commercial solar cell technology in which a dye is... 

Shinnar, R. The hydrogen economy Clarifications on solar cell technologies. Chemical Engineering Progress, 2005, 101, 5. 

Voss B., Knobloch J. and Gotzberger A. (1998), Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells Technology and Systems Applications, Wiley, Chichester. 

Significant amount of research has been dedicated to two material systems MDMO-PPV PCBM (MDMO-PPV poly(2-methoxy-5-(3, 7 -dimethyl-octyloxy)-l,4-phenylenevinylene)) and RR-P3HT PCBM, which represent the state-of-the-art polymer solar cell technology. Because there are excellent review papers on the MDMO-PPV PCBM system in the literature, in this section we will only focus on the recent improvements in RR-P3HT PCBM system, especially the approaches to optimize the active blend layer for enhancing device efficiency. 

The rarest element shown in Figure 1.1 is tellurium, and it is reasonable to suppose that this has implications for the long-term sustainability of cadmium telluride solar cell technology. Sustainability issues of this kind provide the rationale for expansion of the range materials that deserve study for PV applications. A promising new candidate for sustainable PV is Gu2ZnSnS4... 

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