Department of EEE

EEE-445, Sec-1, Spring-2010

ASSIGNMENT
On
Different kinds of Solar cell and their merits and demerits

Prepared by

Student Name: SANIULISLAM

Student ID: 2006-3-80-004

Date of Submission: 24.02.10

Course Title: Renewable Energy

 Introduction:
A solar cell is a device that converts the energy of sunlight directly into electricity by the
photovoltaic effect. Sometimes the term solar cell is reserved for devices intended
specifically to capture energy from sunlight such as solar panels and solar cells, while the
term photovoltaic cell is used when the light source is unspecified. Each solar cell is made
of a semiconductor material, such as silicon. When a photon from sunlight hits a solar
panel, it can do one of three things: pass through the silicon, reflect off the surface, or
become absorbed. Photon absorption is the basis for generating solar heat and creating
electricity. The energy brought in from the photons in light cause electrons in the
semiconductor to flow freely. This, in turn, creates an electric current, which can be
captured by metal contacts placed on the borders of the solar cell. Once captured, the
electric energy can be converted, or used externally. There are many types of solar cells. In
this paper different types of solar panels their merits and demerits will be described.
Multiple-junction solar cells

Multijunction solar cells are a new technology that offers extremely high efficiencies compared to
traditional solar cells made of a single layer of semiconductor material. Depending on the particular
technology, multijunction solar cells are capable of generating approximately twice as much power
under the same conditions as traditional solar cells made of silicon. Unfortunately, multijunction
solar cells are very expensive and are currently only used in high performance applications such as
satellites due to their cost.

Multi-junction solar cells work by layering

semiconductor materials that have different
bandgaps. Light enters through the layer that has
the largest bandgap. Depending on the energy of
the photon, it penetrates the solar cell until it
reaches a layer that has a smaller bandgap than the
photon’s energy. Using this concept, multi-junction
solar cells are more efficient than single layer solar
cells. This is because less of the energy of a photon
exceeds the bandgap of the absorbing
semiconductor, which is energy lost to heat. Figure 1: Multi junction Solar cell

We use multi-junction solar cell to remove loss and increase absorption. The latest multi-junction
cells already offer efficiencies of 40%.

Hetero-Junction Solar Cell

Hetero junction solar cells are supposed to be cost-effective devices with high
conversion efficiencies. A hetero-junction is the interface that occurs between two
layers or regions of dissimilar crystalline semiconductors. These semiconducting
materials have unequal band gaps as opposed to a homojunction. It is often
advantageous to engineer the electronic energy bands in many solid state device
applications including semiconductor lasers, solar cells and transistors to name a few.
The combination of multiple hetero-junctions together in a device is called a hetero-
structure although the two terms are commonly used interchangeably. The
requirement that each material be a semiconductor with unequal band gaps is
somewhat loose especially on small length scales where electronic properties depend
on spatial properties. A more modern definition may be to say that a hetero-junction is
the interface between any two solid state materials including crystalline and
amorphous structures of metallic, insulating, fast ion conductor and semiconducting
material.

Figure 2: Band diagrams for AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure solar cells: (a) structure with p-n
junction in GaAs and frontal wide-gap p-AlGaAs ''window;'' (b) structure with backside
potential barrier in n-region; (c) structure with an AlGaAs frontal layer o

Advantage of hetero-Junction Solar Cell is Potential for high efficiency solar cells. Low temperatures
throughout the process (< 200ºC) that will allow technological development with thin or low quality
crystalline silicon wafers. The fabrication time is less than that usually required for commercial
standard cells. Low energetic cost (low temperature process) and less resources used. Better response
with operating temperature. Hetero junction solar cells are less affected by high operating
temperatures than conventional solar cells. This is a great advantage; since the decrease in the module
efficiency due to high operating temperatures is still one of the most important problems to solve in
photovoltaic installations

When a hetero-junction is formed by two different semiconductors, a quantum well can be fabricated due to
difference in band structure. In order to calculate the static energy levels within the achieved quantum well,
understanding variation or mismatch of the effective mass across the hetero-junction becomes substantial.

Hetero-junction manufacturing generally requires the use of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) or chemical
vapor deposition (CVD) technologies into order to precisely control the deposition thickness and create a
planar interface. MBE and CVD tend to be very complex and expensive compared to traditional silicon device
fabrication.

Thin-film solar cells

A Thin-film solar cell (TFSC), also called a thin-film photovoltaic cell (TFPV), is a solar cell that
is made by depositing one or more thin layers (thin film) of photovoltaic material on a substrate. The
thickness range of such a layer is wide and varies from a few nanometers to tens of micrometers.

Many different photovoltaic materials are deposited with various deposition methods on a variety of
substrates. Thin-film solar cells are usually categorized according to the photovoltaic material used:
 • Amorphous silicon (a-Si) and other thin-film silicon (TF-Si)
• Cadmium Telluride (CdTe)
• Copper indium gallium selenide (CIS or CIGS)
• Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) and other organic solar cells

Figure 3:Thin film solar cell

The cells, called thin-film solar cells, are 100 times thinner and potentially lighter than today's silicon
cells. Because they require less semiconductor material than other solar cells, lots of thin film solar
cells can be made for less money. However, the new cells have a much more complex structure and
are more difficult to make which so far has limited their production and commercialization.

The primary advantages of thin film panels lie in their low manufacturing costs and versatility.
Because amorphous silicon and similar semiconductors do not depend on the long, expensive process
of creating silicon crystals, they can be produced much more quickly. Because they can be applied in
thin layers to different materials, it is also possible to make flexible solar cells.
The advantage of thin film solar cells is their ability to produce electrical power without harmful
emissions.

Thin film panels do have several significant drawbacks. They are the least efficient type of solar
panel currently available. Thin-film technology also uses silicon with high levels of impurities. This
can cause a drop in efficiency within a short period of time.

Organic Solar cell:

An organic photovoltaic cell (OPVC) is a photovoltaic cell that uses organic electronics--a branch of
electronics that deals with conductive organic polymers or small organic molecules for light
absorption and charge transport.

The plastic itself has low production costs in high volumes. Combined with the flexibility of organic
molecules, this makes it potentially lucrative for photovoltaic applications. Molecular engineering
like changing the length and functional group of polymers can change the energy gap, which allows
chemical change in these materials. The optical absorption coefficient of organic molecules is high,
so a large amount of light can be absorbed with a small amount of materials. The main disadvantages
associated with organic photovoltaic cells are low efficiency, low stability and low strength
compared to inorganic photovoltaic cells.

3D solar cells
Three-dimensional solar cells that capture nearly all of the light that strikes them and could boost the
efficiency of photovoltaic systems while reducing their size, weight and mechanical complexity. The
new 3D solar cells capture photons from sunlight using an array of miniature “tower” structures that
resemble high-rise buildings in a city street grid.

Infrared solar cells

Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory, along with partners at Microcontinuum Inc. in
Cambridge, MA and Patrick Pinhero of the University of Missouri, have devised an inexpensive way
to produce plastic sheets containing billions of nanoantennas that collect heat energy generated by
the sun and other sources, which garnered two 2007 Nano50 awards. The technology is the first step
toward a solar energy collector that could be mass-produced on flexible materials. While methods to
convert the energy into usable electricity still need to be developed, the sheets could one day be
manufactured as lightweight "skins" that power everything from hybrid cars to computers and iPods
with higher efficiency than traditional solar cells. The nanoantennas also have the potential to act as
cooling devices that draw waste heat from buildings or electronics without using electricity. The
nanoantennas target mid-infrared rays, which the Earth continuously radiates as heat after absorbing
energy from the sun during the day; also double-sided nanoantenna sheets can harvest energy from
different parts of the Sun's spectrum. In contrast, traditional solar cells can only use visible light,
rendering them idle after dark.

UV solar cells
Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has succeeded in
developing a transparent solar cell that uses ultraviolet (UV) light to generate electricity but allows
visible light to pass through it. Most conventional solar cells use visible and infrared light to generate
electricity. In contrast, the innovative new solar cell uses ultraviolet radiation. Used to replace
conventional window glass, the installation surface area could be large, leading to potential uses that
take advantage of the combined functions of power generation, lighting and temperature control.

Based on crystal structure there are three types of solar cells. They are monocrystalline, polycrystalline,
and amorphous. To produce a monocrystalline silicon cell, absolutely pure semiconducting material is
necessary. Monocrystalline rods are extracted from melted silicon and then sawed into thin plates. This
production process guarantees a relatively high level of efficiency.

Monocrystalline solar panels:

Monocrystalline panels use crystalline silicon produced in a large sheet which has been cut to the
size of the panel, thus making one large single cell. Metal strips are laid over the entire cell and act as
a conductor that captures electrons.
Mono panels are slightly more efficient than Polycrystalline panels but they don't usually cost more
than Poly Panels.

Polycrystalline solar panels:

Polycrystalline panels use a bunch of small cells put together instead of one large cell. Poly panels
are slightly less efficient than mono panels. They are also claimed to be cheaper to manufacturer than
mono panels although we have noticed them to be very similarly priced.

Amorphous solar panels:

Amorphous technology is most often seen in small solar panels, such as those in calculators or
garden lamps, although amorphous panels are increasingly used in larger applications. They are
made by depositing a thin film of silicon onto a sheet of another material such as steel. The panel is
formed as one piece and the individual cells are not as visible as in other types.
Typically, amorphous silicon thin-film cells use a p-i-n structure, whereas CdTe cells use an n-i-p
structure. The basic scenario is as follows: A three-layer sandwich is created, with a middle
intrinsic (i-type or undoped) layer between an n-type layer and a p-type layer. This geometry
sets up an electric field between the p- and n-type regions that stretches across the middle
intrinsic resistive region. Light generates free electrons and holes in the intrinsic region, which
are then separated by the electric field.

In the p-i-n amorphous silicon (a-Si) cell, the top layer is p-type a-Si, the middle layer is intrinsic
silicon, and the bottom layer is n-type a-Si. Amorphous silicon has many atomic-level electrical
defects when it is highly conductive. So very little current would flow if an a-Si cell had to depend
on diffusion. However, in a p-i-n cell, current flows because the free electrons and holes are
generated within the influence of an electric field, rather than having to move toward the field.

Comments:

Solar Cell Technology shows great promise and even though today’s Solar Cells/Panels cannot be
used for large power generation they can be used by homeowners and rv owners to save money
on their energy needs at a very affordable price, that adds value to your home. In the future we
depend on the renewable energy so photovoltaic cell is one of the most important energy
systems. In this Paper many types of solar cell has been described. Except this types of solar
cell there are many types of Solar cell like Carbon Nanotube Solar Cells, Quantum Dot Solar
Cells , Hybrid Solar Cells, 3-D Solar Cells etc are proposing solar cell that are under
research. The use of home solar power can meet many of your energy needs. It can both heat
and cool your home and also operate many appliances. Solar power can also provide lighting,
hot water and even heat your pool among other things.

REFERENCE
1. http://www.power-talk.net/solar-panels.html

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_film_solar_cell

4. http://www.answers.com/topic/heterojunction

5. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/solar_cell_structures.html

6. http://solar.calfinder.com/library/solar-electricity/cells/cell-types