Understanding the current-voltage characteristics of industrial crystalline silicon solar cells by considering inhomogeneous current distributions

Breitenstein, O.

doi:10.2478/s11772-013-0095-5

Artykuł - szczegóły

Tytuł artykułu

Understanding the current-voltage characteristics of industrial crystalline silicon solar cells by considering inhomogeneous current distributions

Autorzy

Breitenstein O.

Wybrane pełne teksty z tego czasopisma

http://journals.pan.pl/dlibra/journal/opelre

Identyfikatory

DOI

10.2478/s11772-013-0095-5

Warianty tytułu

Języki publikacji

Abstrakty

Solar cells made from multi- or mono-crystalline silicon wafers are the base of today’s photovoltaic’s industry. These devices are essentially large-area semiconductor p-n junctions. Technically, solar cells have a relatively simple structure, and the theory of p-n junctions was established already decades ago. The generally accepted model for describing them is the so-called two-diode model. However, the current-voltage characteristics of industrial solar cells, particularly of that made from multi-crystalline silicon material, show significant deviations from established diode theory. These deviations regard the forward and the reverse dark characteristics as well as the relation between the illuminated characteristics to the dark ones. In the recent years it has been found that the characteristics of industrial solar cells can only be understood by taking into account local inhomogeneities of the dark current flow. Such inhomogeneities can be investigated by applying lock-inthermography techniques. Based on these and other investigations, meanwhile the basic properties of industrial silicon solar cells are well understood. This contribution reviews the most important experimental results leading to the present state of physical understanding of the dark and illuminated characteristics of multi-crystalline industrial solar cells. This analysis should be helpful for the continuing process of optimizing such cells for further increasing their energy conversion efficiency.

Słowa kluczowe

solar cells silicon current-voltage characteristics efficiency modeling

Wydawca

Stowarzyszenie Elektryków Polskich
Polska Akademia Nauk
Wojskowa Akademia Techniczna im. Jarosława Dąbrowskiego

Czasopismo

Opto-Electronics Review

Rocznik

2013

Tom

Vol. 21, No. 3

Strony

259--282

Opis fizyczny

Bibliogr. 78 poz., il., wykr.

Twórcy

autor

Breitenstein O.

breiten@mpi-halle.mpg.de

Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, 2 Weinberg, D-06120 Halle, Germany

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