Efficient PV cells made possible by new material

• Book ID: 104440322
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 85 KB
• Volume: 2003
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1473-8325
• DOI: 10.1016/s1473-8325(03)00003-8

✦ Synopsis

In standard solar cells, light absorbed by the cell is converted to power by knocking loose an electron, allowing current to flow. Based on the properties of the particular semiconductor material used in the cell, the light must have a certain amount of energy, to knock an electron loose. Light with lower energy will not be absorbed; light with higher energy will be absorbed, and so the extra energy will be wasted.

The new material, a ZnMnTe crystal with added oxygen impurities, has three bandgaps instead of one, and thus takes advantage of a much larger range of the solar energy spectrum.

The researchers synthesized the material using a novel technique called oxygen ion implantation and pulsed laser melting. Adjusting the amount of oxygen in the material varies the bandgap to optimize power conversion.