11/06/2016

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Solarcellsthethreegenerations

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Solarcellsthethreegenerations

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Solarcelltechnologiesaretraditionallydividedintothreegenerations.Firstgenerationsolarcellsaremainlybasedonsilicon
wafersandtypicallydemonstrateaperformanceabout1520%.Thesetypesofsolarcellsdominatethemarketandare

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mainlythoseseenonrooftops.Thebenefitsofthissolarcelltechnologylieintheirgoodperformance,aswellastheirhigh
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stability.However,theyarerigidandrequirealotofenergyinproduction.
Thesecondgenerationsolarcellsarebasedonamorphoussilicon,CIGSandCdTe,wherethetypicalperformanceis10
15%.Sincethesecondgenerationsolarcellsavoiduseofsiliconwafersandhavealowermaterialconsumptionithasbeen

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Solarenergy

possibletoreduceproductioncostsofthesetypesofsolarcellscomparedtothefirstgeneration.Thesecondgenerationsolar
cellscanalsobeproducedsotheyareflexibletosomedegree.However,astheproductionofsecondgenerationsolarcells
stillincludevacuumprocessesandhightemperaturetreatments,thereisstillalargeenergyconsumptionassociatedwiththe
productionofthesesolarcells.Further,thesecondgenerationsolarcellsarebasedonscarceelementsandthisisalimiting
factorintheprice.

Solarcells
Solarcellsthethree
generations
Polymersolarcells

Thirdgenerationsolarcellsusesorganicmaterialssuchassmallmoleculesorpolymers.Thus,polymersolarcellsareasub
categoryoforganicsolarcells.Thethirdgenerationalsocoversexpensivehighperformanceexperimentalmultijunction

Characterization

solarcellswhichholdtheworldrecordinsolarcellperformance.Thistypehasonlytosomeextentacommercialapplication
becauseoftheveryhighproductionprice.Anewclassofthinfilmsolarcellscurrentlyunderinvestigationareperovskitesolar
cellsandshowhugepotentialwithrecordefficienciesbeyond20%onverysmallarea.Polymersolarcellsorplasticsolar
cells,ontheotherhand,offerseveraladvantagessuchasasimple,quickandinexpensivelargescaleproductionanduseof
materialsthatarereadilyavailableandpotentiallyinexpensive.Polymersolarcellscanbefabricatedwithwellknown

Materials
Degradationandstability
Fabrication

industrialrolltoroll(R2R)technologiesthatcanbecomparedtotheprintingofnewspapers.Althoughtheperformanceand
stabilityofthirdgenerationsolarcellsisstilllimitedcomparedtofirstandsecondgenerationsolarcells,theyhavegreat

Deploymentofsolarcells

potentialandarealreadycommercialized,e.g.byinfinityPV.com.Researchinterestinpolymersolarcellshasincreased
significantlyinrecentyearsanditisnowpossibletoproducethematapricethatenablesprojectssuchasthefreeOPV

Termsandabbreviations

initiative.[1]

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[1]Krebset.al.,EnergyTechnology201310.1002/ente.201300057

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Lromsolceller(Danish)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Cell#Practical_materials

eGOPV2016

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Currentweather

MortenVesteragerMadsen
Temperature:5.96C
Sampletemp:3.74C
Irradiance:2.5W/m
Humidity:97.23%Rh
Lastupdate:Sun,12Jun2016
02:49:51+0200details

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http://plasticphotovoltaics.org/lc/lcsolarcells/lcintroduction.html

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