Operation and physics of photovoltaic solar cells: an overview
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ISSN: 1680-8894
E-ISSN: 2219-6714
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Esta obra está bajo licencia internacional Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0.
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Enviado:
Dec 14, 2018
Publicado: Dec 14, 2018
Publicado: Dec 14, 2018
Resumen
Solar energy is considered the primary source of renewable energy on earth; and among them, solar irradiance has both, the energy potential and the duration sufficient to match mankind future energy needs. Nowadays, despite the significant potential of sunlight for supplying energy, solar power provides only a very small fraction (of about 0.5%) of the global energy demand. In order to increase the worldwide installed PV capacity, solar photovoltaic systems must become more efficient, reliable, cost-competitive and responsive to the current demands of the market. In this context, PV industry in view of the forthcoming adoption of more complex architectures requires the improvement of photovoltaic cells in terms of reducing the related loss mechanism, focusing on the optimization of the process design, as well as, reducing manufacturing complexity and cost. Hence a careful choice of materials, a suitable architecture and geometric distribution, passivation techniques and the adoption of a suitable numerical modeling simulation strategy are mandatory. This work is part of a research activity on some advanced technological solutions aimed at enhancing the conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells. In particular, a detailed study on the main concepts related to the physical mechanisms such as generation and recombination process, movement, the collection of charge carriers, and the simple analytical 1D p-n junction model required to properly understand the behavior of solar cell structures. Additionally, the theoretical efficiency limits and the main loss mechanisms that affect the performance of silicon solar cells are explained.
Palabras clave
Electric field, electron-hole pair, energy bands, IBC solar cell, passivation technique, photovoltaic effect, p-n junction diode.Descargas
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Cómo citar
Guerra, N., Guevara, M., Palacios, C., & Crupi, F. (2018). Operation and physics of photovoltaic solar cells: an overview. I+D Tecnológico, 14(2), 84-95. https://doi.org/10.33412/idt.v14.2.2077
Citas
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(29) A. Luque and S. Hegedus, Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering. Wiley, 2011.
(30) J Zhao, “Passivated emitter rear locally diffused solar cells,” Bulletin of advanced technology research, vol. 5, no. 8, 2011.
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(32) EPIA, “European photovoltaic industry association, global market outlook for photovoltaics until 2016,” Solar Industry Reports, 2012.
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(34) F Feldmann, M Simon, M Bivour, C Reichel, M Hermle,and S. Glunz, “Carrier-selective contacts for si solar cells,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 104, no. 18, p. 181 105, 2014.
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(37) M. Taguchi, A. Yano, S. Tohoda, K. Matsuyama, Y. Nakamura, T. Nishiwaki, K. Fujita, and E. Maruyama, “24.7% record efficiency hit solar cell on thin silicon wafer,” IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 96–99, 2014.
(38) M. Tao, Terawatt solar photovoltaics: roadblocks and opportunities. Springer, 2014.
(39) D. Adachi, J. L. Hernández, and K. Yamamoto, “Impact of carrier recombination on fill factor for large area heterojunction crystalline silicon solar cell with 25.1% efficiency,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 107, no. 23, p. 233 506, 2015. A.J. Geissbühler, J. Werner, S. M. De Nicolas, L. Barraud, Hessler-Wyser, M. Despeisse, S. Nicolay, A. Tomasi, B.Niesen, S. De Wolf, et al., “22.5% efficient silicon heterojunction solar cell with molybdenum oxide hole collector,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 107, no. 8, p. 081 601, 2015.
(40) S. Glunz, F Feldmann, A Richter, M Bivour, C Reichel, H Steinkemper, J Benick, and M Hermle, “The irresistible charm of a simple current flow pattern25% with a solar cell featuring a full-area back contact,” in Proceedings of the 31st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, 2015, pp. 259–263.
(41) M. A. Green, K. Emery, Y. Hishikawa, W. Warta, and E. D. Dunlop, “Solar cell efficiency tables (version 45),” Progress in photovoltaics: research and applications, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 1–9, 2015.
(42) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Solar photovoltaic technologies, MIT,” 2015.
(43) M. R. Payo, F Duerinckx, Y Li, and E Cornagliotti, “Advanced Doping Profiles By Selective Epitaxy Energy Pert Cells in N-Type,” in 31st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, WIP, 2015, pp. 433–439.
(44) L. Tous, M. Aleman, R. Russell, E. Cornagliotti, P. Choulat, A Uruena, S. Singh, J. John, F. Duerinckx, J. Poortmans, et al., “Evaluation of advanced p-perl and n-pert large area silicon solar cells with 20.5% energy conversion efficiencies,” Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 660–670, 2015.
(45) E. Franklin, K. Fong, K. McIntosh, A. Fell, A. Blakers, T. Kho, D. Walter, D. Wang, N. Zin, M. Stocks, et al., “Design, fabrication and characterisation of a 24.4% efficient interdigitated back contact solar cell,” Progress in Photovoltaics: research and applications, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 411–427, 2016.
(46) M. A. Green, K. Emery, Y. Hishikawa, W. Warta, and E. D. Dunlop, “Solar cell efficiency tables (version 47),” Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, vol. 24, no. NREL/JA-5J00-65643, 2016.
(47)A. Smets, K. Jger, O. Isabella, R. Swaaij, and M. Zeman, Solar Energy: The Physics and Engineering of Photovoltaic Conversion, Technologies and Systems. UIT Cambridge, 2016.
(48) K. Yoshikawa, H. Kawasaki, W. Yoshida, T. Irie, K. Konishi, K. Nakano, T. Uto, D. Adachi, M. Kanematsu, H. Uzu, and K. Yamamoto, “Silicon heterojunction solar cell with interdigitated back contacts for a photoconversion efficiency over 26%,” Nature Energy, vol. 2, p. 17 032, 2017.
(2) A. Einstein, “On a heuristic point of view concerning the generation and transformation of light,” Ann. Phys., vol. 322, no. 6, pp. 132–148, 1905.
(3) D. M. Chapin, C. Fuller, and G. Pearson, “A new silicon p-n junction photocell for converting solar radiation into electrical power,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 676–677, 1954.
(4) M. D. Lammert and R. J. Schwartz, “The interdigitated back contact solar cell: A silicon solar cell for use in concentrated sunlight,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 337–342, 1977.
(5) M. A. Green, “Solar cells: Operating principles, technology, and system applications,” 1982.
(6) R. M. Swanson, S. K. Beckwith, R. A. Crane, W. D. Eades, Y. H. Kwark, R. Sinton, and S. Swirhun, “Point-contact silicon solar cells,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 661–664, 1984.
(7) E Yablonovitch, D. Allara, C. Chang, T Gmitter, and T. Bright, “Unusually low surface-recombination velocity on silicon and germanium surfaces,” Physical review letters, vol. 57, no. 2, p. 249, 1986.
(8) D. Fenner, D. Biegelsen, and R. Bringans, “Silicon surface passivation by hydrogen termination: A comparative study of preparation methods,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 66, no. 1, pp. 419–424, 1989.
(9) R Hezel and K Jaeger, “Low-temperature surface passivation of silicon for solar cells,” Journal of the Electrochemical Society, vol. 136, no. 2, pp. 518–523, 1989.
(10) G. W. Trucks, K. Raghavachari, G. S. Higashi, and Y. J. Chabal, “Mechanism of hf etching of silicon surfaces: A theoretical understanding of hydrogen passivation,” Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 65, pp. 504–507, 4 1990.
(11) J. J. Boland, “Scanning tunnelling microscopy of the interaction of hydrogen with silicon surfaces,” Advances in physics, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 129–171, 1993.
(12) E. Lorenzo, Solar electricity: engineering of photovoltaic systems. Earthscan/James & James, 1994.
(13) M. A. Green, Silicon solar cells: advanced principles & practice. Centre for Photovoltaic Devices and Systems, University of New South Wales, 1995.
(14) A. G. Aberle, Crystalline silicon solar cells: advanced surface passivation and analysis. Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering. University of New South Wales, 1999.
(15) S. Glunz, D Biro, S Rein, and W Warta, “Field-effect passivation of the sio2si interface,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 86, no. 1, pp. 683–691, 1999.
(16) J. Zhao, A. Wang, and M. A. Green, “24· 5% efficiency silicon pert cells on mcz substrates and 24· 7% efficiency perl cells on fz substrates,” Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 471–474, 1999.
(17) A. G. Aberle, “Surface passivation of crystalline silicon solar cells: A review,” Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 473–487, 2000.
(18) S. M. Sze, Semiconductor devices: Physics and technology, 2nd ed. John Wiley Sons Inc, New York, NY, 2002.
(19) B. Richards, “Comparison of tio2 and other dielectric coatings for buried-contact solar cells: A review,” Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 253–281, 2004.
(20) B. Van Zeghbroeck, “Principles of semiconductor devices,” Colarado University, 2004.
(21) A. R. Burgers, New metallisation patterns and analysis of light trapping for silicon solar cells. Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland, 2005.
(22) S. Sze and K. Ng, Physics of Semiconductor Devices, 3rd ed. Wiley, 2006.
(23) F Granek, M Hermle, C Reichel, O Schultz-Wittmann, and S. Glunz, “High-efficiency back-contact back-junction silicon solar cell research at fraunhofer ise,” in Proceedings of the 23rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, 2008, pp. 991–995.
(24) B Hoex, J. Gielis, M. Van de Sanden, and W. Kessels, “On the c-si surface passivation mechanism by the negative-charge-dielectric al2o3,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 104, no. 11, p. 113 703, 2008.
(25) M. A. Green, “The path to 25% silicon solar cell efficiency: History of silicon cell evolution,” Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 183–189, 2009.
(26) National instruments in academia, Photovoltaic CellOverview (Part I), National Instruments Corporation, Dec. 2009.
(27) C. Hu, Modern semiconductor devices for integrated circuits. Prentice Hall, 2010.
(28) J. L. Gray, The physics of the solar cell. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2011, pp. 82–129.
(29) A. Luque and S. Hegedus, Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering. Wiley, 2011.
(30) J Zhao, “Passivated emitter rear locally diffused solar cells,” Bulletin of advanced technology research, vol. 5, no. 8, 2011.
(31) R. De Rose, “Investigation of silicon solar cells by means of electro-optical numerical simulations,” PhD thesis, 2012.
(32) EPIA, “European photovoltaic industry association, global market outlook for photovoltaics until 2016,” Solar Industry Reports, 2012.
(33) K. Mertens, Photovoltaics: Fundamentals, Technology and Practice. Wiley, 2013.
(34) F Feldmann, M Simon, M Bivour, C Reichel, M Hermle,and S. Glunz, “Carrier-selective contacts for si solar cells,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 104, no. 18, p. 181 105, 2014.
(35) K. Masuko, M. Shigematsu, T. Hashiguchi, D. Fujishima, M. Kai, N. Yoshimura, T. Yamaguchi, Y. Ichihashi, T. Mishima, N. Matsubara, et al., “Achievement of more than 25% conversion efficiency with crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cell,” IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 1433–1435, 2014.
(36) D. D. Smith, P. Cousins, S. Westerberg, R. De Jesus-Tabajonda, G. Aniero, and Y.-C. Shen, “Toward the practical limits of silicon solar cells,” IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 1465–1469, 2014.
(37) M. Taguchi, A. Yano, S. Tohoda, K. Matsuyama, Y. Nakamura, T. Nishiwaki, K. Fujita, and E. Maruyama, “24.7% record efficiency hit solar cell on thin silicon wafer,” IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 96–99, 2014.
(38) M. Tao, Terawatt solar photovoltaics: roadblocks and opportunities. Springer, 2014.
(39) D. Adachi, J. L. Hernández, and K. Yamamoto, “Impact of carrier recombination on fill factor for large area heterojunction crystalline silicon solar cell with 25.1% efficiency,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 107, no. 23, p. 233 506, 2015. A.J. Geissbühler, J. Werner, S. M. De Nicolas, L. Barraud, Hessler-Wyser, M. Despeisse, S. Nicolay, A. Tomasi, B.Niesen, S. De Wolf, et al., “22.5% efficient silicon heterojunction solar cell with molybdenum oxide hole collector,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 107, no. 8, p. 081 601, 2015.
(40) S. Glunz, F Feldmann, A Richter, M Bivour, C Reichel, H Steinkemper, J Benick, and M Hermle, “The irresistible charm of a simple current flow pattern25% with a solar cell featuring a full-area back contact,” in Proceedings of the 31st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, 2015, pp. 259–263.
(41) M. A. Green, K. Emery, Y. Hishikawa, W. Warta, and E. D. Dunlop, “Solar cell efficiency tables (version 45),” Progress in photovoltaics: research and applications, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 1–9, 2015.
(42) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Solar photovoltaic technologies, MIT,” 2015.
(43) M. R. Payo, F Duerinckx, Y Li, and E Cornagliotti, “Advanced Doping Profiles By Selective Epitaxy Energy Pert Cells in N-Type,” in 31st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, WIP, 2015, pp. 433–439.
(44) L. Tous, M. Aleman, R. Russell, E. Cornagliotti, P. Choulat, A Uruena, S. Singh, J. John, F. Duerinckx, J. Poortmans, et al., “Evaluation of advanced p-perl and n-pert large area silicon solar cells with 20.5% energy conversion efficiencies,” Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 660–670, 2015.
(45) E. Franklin, K. Fong, K. McIntosh, A. Fell, A. Blakers, T. Kho, D. Walter, D. Wang, N. Zin, M. Stocks, et al., “Design, fabrication and characterisation of a 24.4% efficient interdigitated back contact solar cell,” Progress in Photovoltaics: research and applications, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 411–427, 2016.
(46) M. A. Green, K. Emery, Y. Hishikawa, W. Warta, and E. D. Dunlop, “Solar cell efficiency tables (version 47),” Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, vol. 24, no. NREL/JA-5J00-65643, 2016.
(47)A. Smets, K. Jger, O. Isabella, R. Swaaij, and M. Zeman, Solar Energy: The Physics and Engineering of Photovoltaic Conversion, Technologies and Systems. UIT Cambridge, 2016.
(48) K. Yoshikawa, H. Kawasaki, W. Yoshida, T. Irie, K. Konishi, K. Nakano, T. Uto, D. Adachi, M. Kanematsu, H. Uzu, and K. Yamamoto, “Silicon heterojunction solar cell with interdigitated back contacts for a photoconversion efficiency over 26%,” Nature Energy, vol. 2, p. 17 032, 2017.