SOLAR CELL

P.Parkavi, S.Saranya,

IFET College of engineering,

IFET nagar,

Ganagarampalayam

Villupuram-605108
Introduction

You’ve probably seen calculators that have solar cell-calculators that

never need batteries and in some cases don’t even have an off button. as long as you

have enough light, they seem to work forever. You may have seen larger solar panels-

on emerging road signs or call boxes. On buons, even in parking lots to power lights.

Although these larger panels aren’t as common as solar powered calculators. They‘re

out there and not that hard to spot if you know where to look. You have also seen

solar cells arrays on satellites, where they are used in powers the electrical system.

You have probably also been hearing about the “solar revolution” for the last

20 years – the idea that one day we will all use free electricity from the sun. this is a

seductive promise – on a bright, sunny day the sun shines approximately 1000 watts

of energy per square meter of the planet’s surface, and if we could collect all of that

energy we could easily power our homes and offices for free

In this section, we will examine solar cells to learn how they convert the sun’s

energy directly into electricity. in the process you will learn why we are getting closer

to using the sun’s energy on a daily basis, but we still have more research to do before

the process becomes cost effective.

A solar cell or a photovoltaic cell is a device that converts photons from the

sun’s radiation into electricity. In general, a solar cell that includes both solar and non

solar sources of light (such as photons from incandescent bulbs) is termed as

photovoltaic cell.
Principle

Solar cells or photovoltaic cells are working on the principle “photovoltaic

effect” i.e. Creation of emf across the pn junction during irradiation of light. Thus the

basic function of a solar cell is the conversion of electromagnetic energy into

electrical energy.

Working

If a piece of p – type silicon is placed in intimate contact with a piece of n-

type silicon, then a diffusion of electrons occurs from the region of high electron

concentration (the n-type side of the junction) into the region of low electron

concentration (p-type side of the junction). When the electrons diffuse across the p-n

junction, they recombine with the holes on the p-type side. The diffusion of carriers

does not happen indefinitely however, because of an electric field which is created by

the imbalance of charge immediately either side of the junction which this diffusion

creates. The electric field established across the p-n junction creates a diode that

promotes current to flow in only one direction across the junction. Electrons may pass

from the n-type side into the p-type side, and holes may pass from the p-type side to

the n-type side. This region where electrons have diffused across the junction is called

the depletion region.

The action of the light (shower of photons) falling on the junction is to

create electron-hole pairs which move under the influence of this built in field such

that the electrons migrate to n-region and the holes migrate to p-region. This charge

separation will create an electric field opposite to the electric field created by the

diffusion. If the number of absorbed photons is enough, these two fields will cancel
each other, leading to an open circuit voltage between the n and p regions. If these

created electrons and holes are made to flow through an external load, electrical

energy will be obtained from the absorbed photons.

The DC output from the solar arrays enters an inverter. The inverter turns

DC electricity into 120-240 volt AC (alternating current) electricity needed for home

appliances. The AC power enters the utility panel in the house. The electricity is then

distributed to appliances or lights in the house. The electricity that is not used will be

recycled and reused in other facilities. (Solar panels have a sheet of tempered glass on

the front, and a polymer encapsulation on the back).

CHARACTERISTIC OF A SOLAR CELL:

A good photo voltaic material should have a large

absorption coefficient at low temperature and optimum value of energy gap. If the

photon energy is equal to (or) greater than the band gap leads to a large intrinsic

carrier concentration and the possibility of photon absorption is less. The photon can

be absorbed by the silicon, can generate heat if the photon energy is higher than the

silicon band gap value. The construction of a solar cell is difficult because of the fact

that one of the crystal (usually p –type) has to be in the form of a single crystal with a

controlled impurity. The thickness of p layer is very small when we compare with

n-layer to avoid recombination of charge carriers.

Bulk technologies are often referred to

as wafer-based technologies. In each of these approaches, self-supporting wafers

between 180 to 240 micrometers thick are processed and then soldered together to

form a solar cell module.some techniques are given below:

Silicon:

Bulk silicon is separated into multiple categories according to

crystallinity and crystal size in the resulting ingot, ribbon, or wafer.

1. Monocrystalline silicon (c-Si): often made using the

CZOCHRALSKI process. Single crystal wafer cells tend to be expensive, and

because they are cut from cylindrical ingots, do not completely cover a square solar

cell module without a substantial waste of refined silicon. Hence most c-Si panels

have uncovered gaps at the corners or four cells.

2. Poly-or multicrystalline silicon (poly-Si or mc-Si): made from cast

square ingots-large blocks of molten silicon carefully cooled and solidified. These

cells are less expensive to produce than single crystal cells but are less efficient. These

are suitable for large scale production.

3. Ribbon silicon: formed by drawing flat thin films from molten

silicon and having a multicrystalline structure. These cells have lower efficiencies

than poly-Si, but save on production costs due to a great reduction in silicon waste, as

this approach does not require sawing from ingots.

The various thin-film technologies currently being developed

reduce the amount (or mass) of light absorbing material required in creating a solar

cell. This can lead to reduced processing costs from that of bulk materials. Many

multi-layer thin films have efficiencies above those of bulk silicon wafers.

Cadmium telluride:

CdTe is an efficient light-absorbing material for thin-film solar

cells. Compared to other thin-film materials, CdTe is easier to deposit and more

suitable for large scale production. This is the only technology (apart from amorphous

silicon) that can be delivered on a large scale, as shown by First Solar and Antec

Solar. There is a 40 megawatt plant in Ohio (USA) and a 10 megawatt plant in

Germany. First Solar is scaling up to a 100 MW plant in Germany.

COPPER INDIUM GALLIUM ARSENIDE:

They are multi-layered thin-film composites. These

cells are best described by a more complex heterojunction model. The best efficiency

of a thin-film solar cell as December 2005 was 19.5% with CIGS. As of 2006, the best

conversion efficiency for flexible CIGS cells on polyimide is 14.1%. The use of

Gallium increases the band gap of the CIGS layer as compare to CIS thus increase the

voltage. In another point of view, gallium is added to replace as much indium as

possible due to gallium’s relative availability to indium. Approximately 70% of

Indium currently produced is used by the flat-screen monitor industry.

The materials based on CuInSe2, that are of interest

for photovoltaic applications include several elements from groups I,III,VI in the

periodic table. These semiconductors are especially attractive for thin film solar

application because of their high optical absorption co-efficients and versatile optical

and electrical characteristics which can in principle can be manipulated and tuned for

a specific need in a given device. CIS is an abbreviation for general chalcopyrite

films of copper indium selenide(CuInSe2), CIGS mentioned above is a variation of

CIS. While these films can achieve 13.5% efficiency, their manufacturing costs at

present are high when comparing to silicon solar cell but continuing work is leading

to more cost-effective production processes.

GALLIUM ARSENIDE (GaAs) MULTIJUNCTION:

High-efficiency cells have been developed for

special applications such as satellites and space exploration which require high-

performance. A triple-junction cell, for example, may consist of the semiconductors:

GaAs, Ge, and GaInP2. Each type of semiconductor will have a characteristic band

gap energy which, loosely speaking, causes it to absorb light most efficiently at a

certain color, or more precisely, to absorb electromagnetic radiation over a portion of

the spectrum. The semiconductors are carefully chosen to absorb nearly the entire

spectrum, thus generating electricity from as much of the solar energy as possible.
GaAs multifunction devices are the most efficient solar cells to date, reaching as high

as 39% efficiency.

SHELL SOLAR:

It is the renewable energy company producing and marketing solar

panels for homes, business and remote use.

NANOCRYSTALLINE SOLAR CELLS:

These structures make use of

some of the same thin-film light absorbing materials but are overlain as an extremely

thin absorber on a supporting matrix of conductive polymer or mesoporous metal

oxide having a very high surface area to increase internal reflections (and hence

increase the probability of light absorption).

THE SPACE AGENCY (NASA):

The space agency (NASA) awards a two year grant to use

nanotechnology to improve the efficiency and radiation - resistence of solar cells for

space craft on January 5th, 2007.

NANO SOLAR-HOMEPAGE:

It is a world leader in solar power innovation. They are

setting the standard for affordable clean electricity with solar cell technology of

distinctly superior cost efficiency, versatility and availability.

Organic solar cells and polymer solar cells are built from thin films of (typically

100 nm) organic semiconductors such as polymers and small- modules compounds

like polyphenylene vinylene, copper phthalocyanine (a blue or green organic

pigment)and carbon fullerenes. Energy conversion efficiency achieved to date using

conducting polymers are low at 4 to 5 % efficiency for the best cells to date. However,

these cells could be beneficial for some applications where mechanical flexibility and

disposability are important.

MORE POWERFUL SOLAR CELLS:

Today, solar cells are not a very efficient way to produce

electricity, even if the source of energy is free. They can be manufactured from thick

crystalline silicon wafers (300 microns thick) or thinner non-crystalline ones(about 2

microns thick) .But thin cells built are less efficient than thick ones, even if they are

cheaper to produce. But now, researchers have found a way to boost the performance

of solar cells by 40 % to 50%.

SOLAR CELL EFFICIENCY FACTORS:

A solar cell may operate over a wide

range of voltages (V) and currents (I). By increasing resistive load (voltage) in the cell

from zero(indicating a short circuit ) to infinitely high values (indicating open circuit)

one can determine the maximum power point (the maximum output electrical power

Vmax * Imax ; or Pm, in watts).

Pm = Vmax * Imax.
ENERGY CONVERSION EFFICIENCY:

A solar cell’s energy conversion efficiency (η, ’eta’),is the

percentage of power converted (from absorbed light to electrical circuit) and

collected, when a solar cell is connected to an electrical circuit. This term is calculated

using the ratio of Pm, divided by the input light irradiance under standard test

conditions (E, in Weber / meter square) and surface area of the solar cell.

η = Pm/( E* Ac)

“STANDARD” solar radiation (known as the “air mass 1.5 spectrum”) has a power

density of 1000 watts per square meter. Thus, a 12% efficiency solar cell having one

meter square of surface area in full sunlight at solar noon at the equator during either

March or September.

MERITS AND DEMIRITS:

SILICON PROCESSING:

Silicon is very common element, but it is normally bound

in silica, silica sand. Processing silica (SiO2) to produce silicon is a very high energy

process, and more energy efficient methods of synthesis are not only beneficial to the

solar industry, but also to industries surrounding silicon technology as a whole. The

current industrial production of silicon is via the reaction between carbon (charcoal)

and silica at a temperature around 1700 degrees Celsius. In this process, known as

carbothermic reduction, each tone of silicon (metallurgical grade, about 98% pure) is
produced with the emission of about 1.5 tones of carbon dioxide. Solid silica can be

directly converted (reduced) to pure silicon by electrolysis in a molten salt bath at a

fairly mild temperature (800 to 900 degree Celsius). This is the only technology (apart

from amorphous silicon) that can be delivered on a large scale, as shown by First

Solar and Antec Solar. There is a 40 megawatt plant in Ohio(USA) and a 10 megawatt

plant in Germany. First solar is scaling up to a 100 MW plant in Germany. The

perception of the toxicity Ce Te is based on the toxicity of elemental Cd. However, it

is possible for toxic elements to combine to form a harmless compound, as in the

example of NaCl, better known as common salt, which consists of highly reactive

metal Na and the corrosive and toxic gas Chlorine. Scientific work, particularly by

researchers of the National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL) in the USA. Has

shown in that the release of Cd due to the atmosphere is lower with CdTe-based solar

cells than with silicon photovoltaic and other thin films solar cell technologies. Some

investors in solar technology worry that production of CIGS cells would use about

10% of the indium produced in 2004. Indium can easily be recycled from

decommissioned PV modules. The recycling program in Germany would be one good

example to follow.

CONCLUSION:

It is still in its infantancy but is likely to grow rapidly from 2006

onwards. It has the potential to become one of the world’s important PV markets. This

is just one of the conclusions in the markets survey from solar plaza entitled “THE

ITALIAN PV MARKET”.