Low-Cost, High Efficiency, Silicon Based Photovoltaic Devices

Abstract

The favorable bandgap and natural abundance of silicon, combined with the largeexpertise on semiconductor wafer processing, have led to the use of wafer-based crystallinesilicon (c-Si) in the vast majority of photovoltaic cells and modules produced worldwide.However, the high cost of purifying, crystallizing, and segregating Si wafers has inhibited thesephotovoltaic energy sources from approaching cost parity with conventional sources of energy.In this dissertation work, we exploit the description and exploration of low-cost, relatively high efficiencynon-conventional silicon based photovoltaic devices. Three different non-conventionalapproaches were studied, namely, (a.) radial p-n junction wires arrays for effective carriercollection, (b.) plasmonic metal nanoparticles for light trapping, (c.) organic/inorganic hybridheterojunction, as a means to realize a low cost photovoltaic devices.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 27, 2015
Accession Number
AD1028457

Entities

People

  • Pushpa Rajpudasaini

Organizations

  • University of Texas at San Antonio

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Antireflection Coatings
  • Charge Carriers
  • Chemistry
  • Diffraction
  • Energy Bands
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Materials Processing
  • Metallic Nanoparticles
  • Optics
  • P-N Junctions
  • Quantum Efficiency
  • Refractive Index
  • Semiconductors
  • Solar Cells
  • Solar Energy
  • Solar Panels
  • Surface Plasmon Resonance

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.
  • Solar Photovoltaics and Thermoelectric Devices.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Microelectronics