Physics of Solar Cells: From Basic Principles to Advanced Concepts

✍ Scribed by Peter Würfel, Uli Würfel

• Publisher: Wiley-VCH
• Year: 2016
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 289
• Edition: 3
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The new edition of this highly regarded textbook provides a detailed overview of the most important characterization techniques for solar cells and a discussion of their advantages and disadvantages.
It describes in detail all aspects of solar cell function, the physics behind every single step, as well as all the issues to be considered when improving solar cells and their efficiency. The text is now complete with examples of how the appropriate characterization techniques enable the distinction between several potential limitation factors, describing how quantities that have been introduced theoretically in earlier chapters become experimentally accessible.
With exercises after each chapter to reinforce the newly acquired knowledge and requiring no more than standard physics knowledge, this book enables students and professionals to understand the factors driving conversion efficiency and to apply this to their own solar cell development

✦ Table of Contents

Content: Title Page
Copyright
Table of Contents
List of Symbols
Preface
Chapter 1: Problems of the Energy Economy
1.1 Energy Economy
1.2 Estimate of the Maximum Reserves of Fossil Energy
1.3 The Greenhouse Effect
1.4 Problems
Chapter 2: Photons
2.1 Black-body Radiation
2.2 Kirchhoff's Law of Radiation for Nonblack Bodies
2.3 The Solar Spectrum
2.4 Concentration of the Solar Radiation
2.5 Maximum Efficiency of Solar Energy Conversion
2.6 Problems
Chapter 3: Semiconductors
3.1 Electrons in Semiconductors
3.2 Holes
3.3 Doping
3.4 Quasi-Fermi Distributions. 3.5 Generation of Electrons and Holes3.6 Recombination of Electrons and Holes
3.7 Light Emission by Semiconductors
3.8 Problems
Chapter 4: Conversion of Thermal Radiation into Chemical Energy
4.1 Maximum Efficiency for the Production of Chemical Energy
4.2 Shockley-Queisser Limit
4.3 Problems
Chapter 5: Conversion of Chemical Energy into Electrical Energy
5.1 Transport of Electrons and Holes
5.2 Separation of Electrons and Holes
5.3 Diffusion Length of Minority Carriers
5.4 Dielectric Relaxation
5.5 Ambipolar Diffusion
5.6 Dember Effect
5.7 Mathematical Description
5.8 Problems. Chapter 6: Basic Structure of Solar Cells6.1 A Chemical Solar Cell
6.2 Basic Mechanisms in Solar Cells
6.3 Dye Solar Cell
6.4 The pn-Junction
6.5 pn-Junction with Impurity Recombination, Two-Diode Model
6.6 Heterojunctions
6.7 Semiconductor-Metal Contact
6.8 The Role of the Electric Field in Solar Cells
6.9 Organic Solar Cells
6.10 Light Emitting Diodes (LED)
6.11 Problems
Chapter 7: Limitations on Energy Conversion in Solar Cells
7.1 Maximum Efficiency of Solar Cells
7.2 Efficiency of Solar Cells as a Function of Their Energy Gap
7.3 The Optimal Silicon Solar Cell. 7.4 Thin-film Solar Cells7.5 Equivalent Circuit
7.6 Temperature Dependence of the Open-circuit Voltage
7.7 Intensity Dependence of the Efficiency
7.8 Efficiencies of the Individual Energy Conversion Processes
7.9 Problems
Chapter 8: Concepts for Improving the Efficiency of Solar Cells
8.1 Tandem Cells
8.2 Concentrator Cells
8.3 Thermophotovoltaic Energy Conversion
8.4 Impact Ionization
8.5 Two-step Excitation in Three-level Systems
8.6 Problems
Chapter 9: Characterization of Solar Cells
9.1 Spectral Response and Quantum Efficiency
9.2 Quasi-Steady-State Photoconductance. 9.3 Luminescence9.4 Thermography
9.5 Light-Beam-Induced Current (LBIC)
9.6 The Suns-Voc Method
9.7 Transient Techniques
Solutions
Appendix
Fundamental Constants
Units of Energy
Material Constants at 300 K
Standard Global AM 1.5 Spectrum
References
Index
End User License Agreement.

✦ Subjects

TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING;Mechanical.;Solar cells.