Photovoltaic cells are third and the most desirable method of exploiting the Sun's energy, but because

of the weak efficiency and large expenses this method isn't used on the larger scale. Photovoltaic cells are directly transforming solar energy to an electrical energy. Photovoltaic cells are usually used on places where it isn't possible using some other energy source, for instance on satellites, on road signs, etc. Additionally they're used for powering many of small consumers like pocket calculators.

Photovoltaic effect was discovered by French physicist AlexandreEdmond Becquerel (1820-1891) in the year 1839. Photovoltaic cells are built out of two layers-positive and negative, and the difference of potentials between these two layers depends upon the intensity of the solar radiation. Solar energy is coming on Earth in the shape of photons. Photons once they fall on the solar cell's, are transferring all of their energy to the panel, making it possible for negatively charged electrons to burst out of the atom. These electrons after picking up the energy from photons have enough energy to move around and are moving towards other (negative) side of the panel and this is how the difference in potentials happens and electrical energy generates. Photovoltaic cells are made up from silicon and silicon is one of the most common elements on Earth.

Principle

1.) Free electrons from the n-type semiconductor flow to the positive holes in the p-type semiconductor 2.) Charges develop on the edges between the n and p type semiconductors due to excess and deficiency of electrons. This area is known as a depletion zone and an electric field develops 3.) A negative charge develops on the p type semi conductor and a positive charge develops on the n type conductor. HOWEVER, the electrons cannot flow from n-type to the junction and out the p-type and neither can electrons flow from the p-type through the junction (as it will just neutralise the electron hole pair). 4.) An incidence light beam (photon) hits an n-type (we will only discuss n-i-p photovoltaic cells), liberating an electron and a hole. The hole will migrate to the depletion zone whilst the electron as it has greater amounts of energy accelerates through the conductor. 5.) The electron will perform work on a load and return to the circuit through the p-type semiconductor, where it will move to the depletion zone and neutralise with a hole.

Design
Photovoltaic cells come in two types: n-i-p type and p-i-n types. The new syllabus has not reflected the change to p-i-n types, although both work in a very similar way. (It is more about efficiency). Junction In a photovoltaic cell, the cell will consist of two semi-conductors, separated by a depletion zone. Be warned, although it appears there is a gap there is in fact NO GAP between the two semi-conducting materials (as seen in jacaranda). It is in fact a representation of the depletion zone that exists between the two materials. When two semiconductors of ntype and p-type join, the initial rush of electrons from the n-type move

towards the p-type produces an electrical field. A depletion zone forms as the donor electrons from the n-type semi conductor move to fill in the 'holes' of the p-type semi-conductor. As the electrons move to the p-type semi-conductor it will then produce a net charge across field, resulting in a negatively charged p-type semiconductor and a positively charged type n-type semiconductor. This field is an exertion of two states, the 'holes' of the p-type vs the free electrons of the n-type and the ions left over from donor electrons moving to the acceptor semi-conductors. Because of this depletion zone, the movement of n-type donor electrons gets harder and harder until it forms an equilibrium between the two semi-conductors. It is then known that a voltage applied now as negative on the n-type and a positive on the p-type, a current will flow as the electrons will be liberated across the junction and flow naturally through the n-type and fill the resulting holes in the p-type after completing the circuit. This property is useful in diodes (which are used to rectify an AC current) or in photovoltaic cells, which take advantage of the photoelectric effect as well. The photoelectric effect on photovoltaic cells Photovoltaic cells work on much the same principal as a diode does. In fact a light emitting diode will produce a current in reverse as it uses the same principle, only working backwards. As mentioned above it uses the n-i-p state and relies on the n-p junction. In photovoltaic cells, the n-i-p junction works by facing the solar cell upwards so that the n-type semi conductor faces the sun. The incident photon can strike anywhere on the the silicon crystal but backwards current cannot flow past the n-p junction. This is because of the bias placed on the depletion zone. The depletion zone only allows electrons to flow out of the n-type silicon lattice whilst the holes move towards the negative p-type, if an electron hole pair is freed in the p-type semiconductor, the electron will move the n-type lattice. To answer questions on whether the incident photon hits the n or p type layer, the answer is that it doesn't necessarily matter and the principle

applies to produce a current in the reverse bias current direction. The problem is that incident photons hitting the p-type material past the junction will meet more resistance and thus will have less energy (as it has to travel through the p and n-type layers) H OW DO P HOTOVOLTAICS W ORK ?

H OW DO P HOTOVOLTAICS W ORK ?
BY

G IL K NIER

back to the Science@NASA story "The Edge of Sunshine" Photovoltaics is the direct conversion of light into electricity at the atomic level. Some materials exhibit a property known as the photoelectric effect that causes them to absorb photons of light and release electrons. When these free electrons are captured, an electric current results that can be used as electricity. The photoelectric effect was first noted by a French physicist, Edmund Bequerel, in 1839, who found that certain materials would produce small amounts of electric current when exposed to light. In 1905, Albert Einstein described the nature of light and the photoelectric effect on which photovoltaic technology is based, for which he later won a Nobel prize in physics. The first photovoltaic module was built by Bell Laboratories in 1954. It was billed as a solar battery and was mostly just a curiosity as it was too expensive to gain widespread use. In the 1960s, the space industry began to make the first serious use of the technology to provide power aboard spacecraft. Through the space programs, the technology advanced, its reliability was established, and the cost began to decline. During the energy crisis in the 1970s, photovoltaic technology gained recognition as a source of power for non-space applications.

The diagram above illustrates the operation of a basic photovoltaic cell, also called a solar cell. Solar cells are made of the same kinds of semiconductor materials, such as silicon, used in the microelectronics industry. For solar cells, a thin semiconductor wafer is specially treated to form an electric field, positive on one side and negative on the other. When light energy strikes the solar cell, electrons are knocked loose from the atoms in the semiconductor material. If electrical conductors are attached to the positive and negative sides, forming an electrical circuit, the electrons can be captured in the form of an electric current -- that is, electricity. This electricity can then be used to power a load, such as a light or a tool. A number of solar cells electrically connected to each other and mounted in a support structure or frame is called a photovoltaic module. Modules are designed to supply electricity at a certain voltage, such as a common 12 volts system. The current produced is directly dependent on how much light strikes the module.

Multiple modules can be wired together to form an array. In general, the larger the area of a module or array, the more electricity that will be produced. Photovoltaic modules and arrays produce direct-current (dc) electricity. They can be connected in both series and parallel electrical arrangements to produce any required voltage and current combination. Today's most common PV devices use a single junction, or interface, to create an electric field within a semiconductor such as a PV cell. In a single-junction PV cell, only photons whose energy is equal to or greater than the band gap of the cell material can free an electron for an electric circuit. In other words, the photovoltaic response of single-junction cells is

limited to the portion of the sun's spectrum whose energy is above the band gap of the absorbing material, and lower-energy photons are not used. One way to get around this limitation is to use two (or more) different cells, with more than one band gap and more than one junction, to generate a voltage. These are referred to as "multijunction" cells (also called "cascade" or "tandem" cells). Multijunction devices can achieve a higher totalconversion efficiency because they can convert more of the energy spectrum of light to electricity. As shown below, a multijunction device is a stack of individual single-junction cells in descending order of band gap (Eg). The top cell captures the high-energy photons and passes the rest of the photons on to be absorbed by lower-band-gap cells. Much of today's research in multijunction cells focuses on gallium arsenide as one (or all) of the component cells. Such cells have reached efficiencies of around 35% under concentrated sunlight. Other materials studied for multijunction devices have been amorphous silicon and copper indium diselenide. As an example, the multijunction device below uses a top cell of gallium indium phosphide, "a tunnel junction," to aid the flow of electrons between the cells, and a bottom cell of gallium arsenide.