23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Solar Cell Technology MoserBaer PhotoVoltaic Limited Sujit Pillai 2008-2009 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential The Sun An inexhaustible clean source of energy In a single hour the Sun delivers the same amount of energy as consumed by all of humanity in a year ~ 5 x 10 20 J
The energy delivered by the sun in 36 hours is equal to the energy content of all of the earths known oil reserves. 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Uranium Natural Gas Oil Coal Annual Energy from the Sun Annual Energy Demand E q u i v a l e n t
S t o c k
o f
E n e r g y
S o u r c e
23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential PV Installed Capacity 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential 0 100 200 300 C o a l O i l G a s N u c l e a r B i o m a s s H y d r o W i n d S o l a r G e o 1999 2020 2040 2060 E x a j o u l e s Projected World Energy Output 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Cost of Solar Energy: a concern The main barrier to widespread adoption of solar energy is cost. Solar energy costs as much as $ 0.30 per kWh. This is very high compared with: Wind Energy: $ 0.05 per kWh Natural Gas Energy: $ 0.03 per kWh. BUT, PV capacity is grwing by 50 % every year, and With every doubling of capacity , PV costs come down by 20 percent. 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential But, the future is bright.. Gradual improvements to the basic single-crystal silicon solar cells have already reduced the cost of photovoltaic electricity by about a factor of 20 in the past 30 years, and the continuing development of cheaper crystalline materials should see this trend continue. According to a report produced by American scientists George Crabtree and Nathan Lewis for the US Department of Energy in 2005, solar cells will become competitive enough generating electricity at $0.02 per kWh to be implemented on a massive scale in about 2025 years' time. 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Semiconductor Basics p-n junctions n type doping p type doping Intrinsic Electrical Field Photovoltaic Effect Energy Band Diagram
23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Photovoltaic Cell: A p-n junction 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Energy Band Diagram of a Solar Cell 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Fundamentals of Solar Cell Operation Part of a wafer of silicon is doped to create an excess of holes (i.e. a p-type semiconductor) while another part of the wafer is doped to contain an excess of electrons (an n-type semiconductor). At the junction between these two regions, electrons and holes combine to create a potential barrier, which keeps the remaining electrons and holes apart. However, when a photon with sufficient energy strikes the cell, it promotes electrons from the valence band to the conduction band, creating electronhole pairs. Pairs formed on or near the pn junction are forced by the electric field to separate so that the holes pass to the p-type region and the electrons to the n-type region, thereby producing a current. 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Silicon Solar Cell Construction 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Construction of Solar Cell 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Animation of Solar Cell operation
23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Solar Cell Schematic 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Solar Cell Electrical Characteristics Operation in the 4 th
quadrant generates electric current. 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Electrical Properties of a Solar Cell
n - type
p - type
V + I Photons Junction
External circuit (e.g. , battery, lights) Isc
V + I ) 1 ( - BV e A
External circuit (e.g. , battery, lights) ) 1 ( - BV e A 0 5 0.0 0.6 Diode Volts D i o d e
A m p s
Diode current ) 1 ( - BV e A ) 1 ( - - BV sc e A I I 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Solar Cell IV Curve and P max 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential From Cell to Module to Array 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Solar Cell Performance Efficiency is the key parameter. In 1961, Shockley and Queisser calculated that the simplest solar cell has a maximum efficiency of 31 %. This is a cell that consists of a single pn junction, generates just one electronhole pair for each incoming photon, is exposed to unconcentrated sunlight, and wastes as heat any incoming photon energies in excess of the semiconductor band gap 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Loss Mechanisms in a Si solar cell 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Evolution of Solar Cell Efficiency 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Technology Generations Crystalline Silicon
Thin film multi crystalline
Nanotechnology 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Thin Film Solar Cells 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Multijunction Solar Cells 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Third generation Solar Cells Nanocrystals / Quantum Dots
Dye sensitized
Quantum Well Cells
Organic / Plastic Solar Cells 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Quantum Dot Solar Cell 7 n m 7 n m
n a n o c r y s t a l
23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Organic Solar Cell 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Solar Cell Outlook
23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Convergence of Cost per kWh 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Solar Cell Efficiency vs. Cost 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Conclusions Advancements in Solar Cell Technology hold immense potential to drastically reduce the cost while maintaining efficiency.
The next few decades will see increased adoption of Solar Power.
Advances in Nanotechnology will play a key role in the adoption of Solar cells. 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential Conclusions Solar energy will become the most important and cost-efficient energy source in the future. The present lack of silicon feedstock is promoting a rapid development of next generation technology. Immediate actions are taken to cut thinner wafers and increase cell efficiencies for crystalline silicon. New thin film technologies are being developed Stronger influence from semiconductor industry will accelerate the development of better technologies Nanosilicon and other third generation technologies may offer a long-term solution for the future solar energy technology. 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential 23-Jun-14 Proprietary & Confidential