Abstract
There is all around focus on the development of renewable energy due to energy security, climate change and energy access. Solar photovoltaic deals with conversion of sunlight into electricity. Understanding the available energy resources at Earth’s surface that can be used for this conversion is important. The single- and multi-crystalline silicon solar cells dominate the present PV market and occupy >85% of it. Advancements are continuously being made and efficiency of the most widely used cells using c-Si cells now touching up to 20%. Higher efficiency cells use III–V compound semiconductors. Commercial efficiency of more than 30% is now routinely achieved using high-efficiency multi-junction (MJ) III–V cells. Due to cost consideration, these cells are primarily being used in space. Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) using high-efficiency MJ cells are used in terrestrial application. Thin-film solar cell is relatively new technology and now occupies about 10% of PV market. The present conversion efficiencies of a-Si thin film solar cells are 8–10% (stabilized) and that of micromorph 9–11% (stabilized) at the production level. Amongst the compound semiconductor, thin-film solar cells CdTe are being produced on mass scale. The conversion efficiency is about 10%. For CIGS the production technology is not yet fully matured. There are several new types of solar cell technologies attracting attention. Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) mimics photosynthesis process. The efficiency achieved is 15–16% in the laboratory scale. However, stability is a problem which is standing in the way of its commercial production. Organic and polymer-based solar cells have not been able to make much progress in terms of efficiency and stability. The other important R&D activities which are going to enhance the conversion efficiencies of solar cells are based on better light management so that current from the cell goes up. For this nanotechnology involving nanostructures are being used.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Masters GM (2013) Renewable and efficient electric power systems. IEEE Press, Wiley, Hoboken
Boyle G (2004) Renewable energy. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Nelson V (2011) Introduction to renewable energy. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Foster R, Ghassemi M, Cota A (2010) Solar energy, renewable energy and environment. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Markvart T, Castaner L (2005) Practical handbook of photovoltaics: fundamentals and applications. Elsevier, Oxford
Green MA (1995) Silicon solar cells: advanced principles and practice. Bridge Printery, Sydney
Street RA (2005) Hydrogenated amorphous silicon. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Ahmed G, Mandal S, Barua AK, Bhattacharya TK, Roy JN (2017) Band offset reduction at defect-rich p/i interface through a wide bandgap a-SiO: H buffer layer. IEEE J Photovoltaics 7(2):414–420
Staebler DL, Wronski CR (2004) Intrinsic and light induced gap states in a-Si: H materials and solar cells—effects of microstructure. Thin Solid Films 451–452:470–475
Cusano DA (1963) CdTe solar cells and photovoltaic heterojunctions in II–VI compounds. Solid State Electron 6:217
Fardi H, Buny F (2013) Characterization and modeling of CdS/CdTe heterojunction thin film solar cell for high efficiency performance. Int J Photoenergy 2013. Article ID: 576952
Ikegami S (1988) CdS/CdTe solar cells by the screen-printing-sintering technique: fabrication, photovoltaic properties and applications. Solar Cells 23(1–2):9–105
Ohlsen HJ, Bodegard M, Kylner A, Stolt L, Hariskos D, Ruckh M, Schock HW (1993) ZnO/CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells with improved performance. In: Proceedings of 23rd IEEE photovoltaic specialists conference, pp 364–371
Kronik L, Cahen D, Schock HW (1998) Effects of sodium on polycrystalline Cu (In, Ga)Se2 and its solar cell performance. Adv Mater 10:31–36
Gratzel M (2003) Dye sensitized solar cells. J Photochem Photobiol C Photochem Rev 4:145–153
Nazeeruddin MK, Snaith HK (eds) (2015) Perovskite photovoltaics. MRS Bull 40(8)
Cui M, Chen N, Yang X, Wang Y, Bai Y, Zhang X (2009) Thermal analysis and test for single concentrator solar cells. J Semicond 20:4
Sze SM (1985) Semiconductor devices—physics and technology. Wiley, New York
Sharps PR, Stan MA, Aiken DI, Clevenger B, Hills JS, Fatemi NS (2003) Multi-junction cells with monolithic bypass diodes. In: World conference on photovoltaic energy conversion, pp 626–629
Nazeeruddin MK, Snaith HK (eds) (2015) High efficiency tandem solar cells. MRS Bull 40(8):681
Taguchi M, Yano A, Tohoda S, Matsuyama K, Nakamura Y, Nishiwaki T, Fujita K, Maruyama E (2014) 24.7% record efficiency HIT solar cell on thin silicon wafer. IEEE J Photovoltaics, 4(1):96–99
Rob WA, Pollard A, Pearce JM (2013) Photovoltaic system performance enhancement with non-tracking planar concentrators: experimental results and BDRF based modelling. In: 39th IEEE photovoltaic specialists conference, p 229
Sam-Shajing S, Niyazi Serdar S (eds) (2005) Organic photovoltaics: mechanisms, materials, and devices (optical engineering). CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton
Bose DN (2012) Organic photovoltaics in semiconductor materials and devices’. New Age, Delhi, p 743
Kojima A, Teshima K, Shirai Y, Miyasaka T (2009) Organometal halide perovskites as visible-light sensitizers for photovoltaic cells. J Am Chem Soc 131(17):6040
Chuang CHM, Brown P, Bulovic V, Bawendi MG (2014) Improved performance and stability in quantum dot solar cells through band alignment engineering. Nat Mater 13:796–801
Zemen Y, Schulz SC, Trommler H, Buschhorn ST, Bauhofer W, Schulte K (2013) Comparison of new conductive adhesive based on silver and carbon nanotubes for solar cells interconnection. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 109:55–159
Macdonald DH, Cuevas A, Kerr MJ, Samundsett C, Ruby D, Winderbaun S, Leo A (2004) Texturing industrial multi-crystalline solar cells. Sol Energy 76:277–283
Campbell P (1990) Light trapping in textured solar cells. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 21:165–172
George M, Chandra H, Morse P, Morris J, Madocks J (2008) Silicon nitride ARC thin films by new plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition source technology. In: IEEE photovoltaic specialist conference, pp 1641–1647
Duttagupta S, Ma F, Hoex B, Mueller T, Aberle AG (2012) Optimized antireflection coating using silicon nitride on textured silicon surfaces based on measurements and multidimensional modelling. In: International conference on materials for advanced technologies, vol 15, pp 78–83
Roy JN (2015) Modeling of insulation characteristics of Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) modules. Sol Energy 120:1–8
Roy JN, Gariki GR, Nagalakshmi V (2010) Reference module selection criteria for accurate testing of photovoltaic (PV) panels. Sol Energy 84:32–36
Roy JN (2016) Comprehensive analysis and modeling of cell to module (CTM) conversion loss during c-Si Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) module manufacturing. Sol Energy 130:184–192
Magnone P, Rose RD, Tonini D, Frei M, Zanuccoli M, Belli A, Galiazzo M, Sangiorgi E, Fiegna C (2014) Numerical simulation on the influence of via and rear emitter in MWT solar cell. IEEE J Photovolt 4:1032–1039
Kiefer K, Ulzhofer C, Brendemuhl T, Harder NP, Brendel R, Mertens V, Bordihn S, Peters C, Muller JW (2011) High efficiency n-type emitter wrap through silicon solar cells. IEEE J Photovolt 1:49–53
Fenner DB, Biegelsen DK, Brinquans RD (1989) Silicon surface passivation by hydrogen termination: a comparative study of preparation methods. J Appl Phys 66:419–424
Wang F, Zhang X, Wang L, Wei C, Sun J, Zhao Y (2014) Role of hydrogen plasma pretreatment in improving passivation of the silicon surface for solar cells applications. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 10:15098–15104
Wang ZA, Green MA (1994) Series resistance caused by the localized rear contact in high efficiency silicon solar cells. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 32:89–94
Zhao J, Wang A, Green MA (1999) 24.5% efficiency silicon PERT cells on MCZ substrates and 24.7% efficiency PERL cells on FZ substrate. Prog Photovolt Res Appl 7:471–474
Roder TC, Eisele SJ, Grabitz P, Wagner C, Kulushish G, Kohler JR, Werner JH (2010) Add-on laser tailored selective emitter solar cells. Prog Photovolt Res Appl 18:505–510
Antoniadis H, Jiang F, Shan W, Liui Y (2010) All screen printed mass produced silicon ink selective emitter solar cells. In: Proceedings of photovoltaic specialist conference (PVSC), pp 1193–1196
Zanuecoli M, Magnone P, Sangiorgi E, Fiegna C (2015) Analysis of the impact of geometrical and technological parameters on recombination losses in interdigitated back contact solar cells. Sol Energy 116:37–44
Bunea G, Xavier G, Rose D, Nelson L, Peurach J (2010) Performance and reliability of modules with antireflective coated glass. In: Proceedings of 25th EUPVSEC, pp 4103–4106
Wohlgemuth J, Cunnigham D, Shaner J, Nguyen A, Ransome S, Artigeo A (2015) Crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules with antireflective coated glass. In: Proceedings of IEEE Photovoltaic Conference (PVSC), pp 1015–1018
Mickiewitcz RA, Cahill E, Wu PI (2012) Non-destructive determination of degree of cross linking of EVA solar module encapsulation using DMA shear measurements. In: Proceedings of photovoltaic specialist conference (PVSC), pp 710–713
Su WS, Chen YC, Liao WH, Huang CH, Liu DC, Huang MY, Wu ZC, Ho SJ (2011) Optimization of the output power by effect of backsheet reflectance and spacing between cell strings. In: Proceedings of IEEE photovoltaic specialist conference (PVSC), pp 3218–3220
Poulek V, Strebkor DS, Persie IS, Libra M (2012) Towards 50 years lifetime of PV panels laminated with silicone gel technology. Sol Energy 86:3103–3108
Geisza JF, Friedmann DJ, Ward JS, Duda A, Olavarria WJ, Moriarty TE, Kiehl JT, Romero MJ, Norman AG, Jones KM (2008) 40.8% efficiency inverted triple-junction solar cell with two independent metamorphic junctions. Appl Phys Lett 93:123505-1-3
Stringfellow GB (1999) Organometallic vapor-phase epitaxy: theory and practice, 2nd.edn. Academic Press, New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Roy, J.N. (2018). Solar Photovoltaic Technology. In: De, S., Bandyopadhyay, S., Assadi, M., Mukherjee, D. (eds) Sustainable Energy Technology and Policies. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7188-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7188-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-7187-4
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-7188-1
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)