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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
The pursuit of nanotechnology comprises a wide variety of disciplines: chemistry, physics,
mechanical engineering, materials science, molecular biology, and computer science. In order to
the miniaturization of integrated circuits well into the present century, it is likely that present
day, nano-scale or nano electronic device designs will be replaced with new designs for devices
that take advantage of the quantum mechanical effects that dominate on the much smaller
nanometer scale .
Nanotechnology is often referred to as general purpose technology. That is because in its mature
form it will have significant impact on almost all industries and all areas of society. It offers
better built, longer lasting, cleaner, safer and smarter products for the home, for ammunition, for
medicine and for industries for ages. These properties of nanotechnology have been made use of
in solar cells. Solar energy is really an abundant source that is renewable and pollution free. This
form of energy has very wide applications ranging from small household items, calculators to
larger things like two wheelers, cars etc. they make use of solar cell that coverts the energy from
the sun into required form.
Department of ECE, sir MVIT
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It is expected that the global energy demand will double within the next 50 years. Fossil fuels,
however, are running out and are held responsible for the increased concentration of carbon
dioxide in the earths atmosphere. Hence, developing environmentally friendly, renewable
energy is one of the challenges to society in the 21st century. One of the renewable energy
technologies is photovoltaics (PV), the technology that directly converts daylight into electricity.
PV is one of the fastest growing of all the renewable energy technologies, in fact, it is one of the
fastest growing industries at present.
Solar cell manufacturing based on the technology of crystalline, silicon devices is growing by
approximately 40% per year and this growth rate is increasing. This has been realized mainly by
special market implementation programs and other government grants to encourage a substantial
use of the current PV technologies based on silicon. Unfortunately, financial support by
governments is under constant pressure.
At present, the active materials used for the fabrication of solar cells are mainly inorganic
materials, such as silicon (Si), gallium-arsenide (GaAs), cadmium-telluride (CdTe), and
cadmium-indium-selenide (CIS). The power conversion efficiency for these solar cells varies
from 8 to 29% . With regard to the technology used, these solar cells can be divided into two
classes. The crystalline solar cells or silicon solar cells are made of either (mono- or poly-)
crystalline silicon or GaAs. About 85% of the PV market is shared by these crystalline solar
cells. Amorphous silicon, CdTe, and CI(G)S are more recent thin-film technologies.
Current solar power technology has little chance to compete with fossil fuels or large electric
grids. Todays solar cells are simply not efficient enough and are currently too expensive to
manufacture for large-scale electricity generation. However, potential advancements in
nanotechnology may open the door to the production of cheaper and slightly more efficient solar
cells. Scientists have invented a plastic solar cell that can turn the sun's power into electrical
energy, even on a cloudy day. The plastic material uses nanotechnology and contains the first
solar cells able to harness the sun's invisible, infrared rays.
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CHAPTER 2
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Charles Fritts - First Solar Cell: The first genuine solar cell was built around 1883 by Charles
Fritts, who used junctions formed by coating selenium (a semiconductor) with an extremely thin
layer of gold. The device was only about 1 percent efficient.
Albert Einstein - Photoelectric Effect: Albert Einstein explained the photoelectric effect in 1905
for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.
Russell Ohl - Silicon Solar Cell: Early solar cells, however, had energy conversion efficiencies
of under one percent. In 1941, the silicon solar cell was invented by Russell Ohl.
Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin - Efficient Solar Cells: In 1954, three
American researchers, Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin, designed a silicon solar
cell capable of a six percent energy conversion efficiency with direct sunlight. They created the
first solar panels. Bell Laboratories in New York announced the prototype manufacture of a new
solar battery. Bell had funded the research. The first public service trial of the Bell Solar Battery
began with a telephone carrier system (Americus, Georgia) on October 4 1955.
CHAPTER 3
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wafers consisting of Silicon or Germanium that are doped with Phosphorus and Boron in a pnjunction. Silicon cells have a quite high efficiency, but very pure silicon is needed, and due to the
energy-requiring process, the price is high compared to the power output. Crystalline Silicon
Solar Cells dominate 80-90% of solar cell market due to their high efficiency, despite their high
manufacturing costs
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Chapter 4
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When light, in the form of photons, hits solar cell, its energy breaks apart electron-hole
pairs(Photoelectric effect). Each photon with enough energy will normally free exactly one
electron, resulting in a free hole as well. If this happens close enough to the electric field, or if
free electron and free hole happen to wander into its range of influence, the field will send the
electron to the N side and the hole to the P side. This causes further disruption of electrical
neutrality, and if an external current path is provided, electrons will flow through the path to the
P side to unite with holes that the electric field sent there, doing work for us along the way. The
electron flow provides the current, and the cell's electric field causes a voltage.
Silicon is very shiny material, which can send photons bouncing away before energizing the
electrons, so an antireflective coating is applied to reduce those losses. The final step is to install
something that will protect the cell from the external elements- often a glass cover plate. PV
modules are generally made by connecting several individual cells together to achieve useful
levels of voltage and current, and putting them in a sturdy frame complete with positive and
negative terminals.
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CHAPTER 5
energy
Plastic solar cells are not new .But existing materials are only able to harness the suns visible
light. While half of the suns power lies in the visible spectrum, the other half lies in the infrared
spectrum. The new material is first plastic compound that is able to harness infrared portion.
Every warm body emits heat. This heat is emitted even by man and by animals, even when it is
dark outside.
The plastic material uses nanotechnology and contains the 1stgeneration solar cells that can
harness the suns invisible infrared rays. This breakthrough made us to believe that plastic solar
cells could one day become more efficient than the current solar cell. The researchers combined
specially designed nano particles called quantum dots with a polymer to make the plastic that can
detect energy in the infrared.
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With further advances the new PLASTIC SOLAR CELL could allow up to 30% of suns
radiant energy to be harnessed completely when compared to only 6% in today plastic best
plastic solar cells.
A large amount of suns energy could be harnessed through solar farms and used to power all our
energy needs. This could potentially displace other source of electrical production that produce
green house gases like coal.
Solar energy reaching the earth is 10000 times than what we consume. If we could cover 0.1% of
the earths surface with the solar farms we could replace all our energy habits with a source of
power which is clear and renewable.
The first crude solar cells have achieved efficiencies of todays standard commercial
photovoltaics the best solar cell, which are very expensive semiconductor laminates convert at
most, 35% of the suns energy into electricity.
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CHAPTER 6
(Left) A diagram of a quantum dot structure. (Center) A comparison of solar cells with
different levels of doping. (Right) The 3D potential profile in quantum dot structures
For the past few years, researchers have been using quantum dots to increase the light absorption
and overall efficiency of solar cells. Now, researchers have taken a step further, demonstrating
that quantum dots with a built-in electric charge can increase the efficiency of InAs/GaAs
quantum dot solar cells by 50% or more. The researchers, Kimberly Sablon and John W. Little
(US Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Maryland), Vladimir Mitin, Andrei Sergeev, and
Nizami Vagidov (University of Buffalo in Buffalo, New York), and Kitt Reinhardt (AFOSR/NE
in Arlington, Virginia) have published their study on the increased solar cell efficiency in a
recent issue of Nano letters. In their study, the researchers studied heterostructure solar cells with
InAs/GaAs quantum dots. As photovoltaic materials, the quantum dots allow for harvesting of
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the infrared radiation to convert it into electric energy. However, the quantum dots also enhance
the recombination of photocarriers and decrease the photocurrent. For this reason, up to now the
improvement of photovoltaic efficiency due to quantum dots has been limited by several percent.
Here, the researchers have proposed to charge quantum dots by using selective interdot doping.
In their experiments, the researchers compared doping levels of 2, 3, and 6 additional electrons
per quantum dot, which resulted in photovoltaic efficiency increases of 4.5%, 30%, and 50%,
respectively, compared to an undoped solar cell. For the 6-electron doping level, that 50%
increase corresponds to an overall efficiency increase from 9.3% (for undoped solar cells) to
14%. The researchers attributed this radical improvement of the photovoltaic efficiency to two
basic effects. First, the built-in-dot charge induces various transitions of the electrons and
enhances harvesting of the infrared radiation. Second, the built-in-dot charge creates potential
barriers around dots and these barriers suppress capture processes for electrons and do not allow
them to return back into the dots. The effect of potential barriers has been previously used by the
researchers to improve the sensitivity of infrared detectors.
In addition, the researchers predict that further increasing the doping level will lead to an even
stronger efficiency enhancement, since there was no evidence of saturation. In the future, the
researchers plan to further investigate how these effects influence each other at higher doping
levels. They predict that further increasing the doping level and radiation intensity will lead to an
even stronger efficiency enhancement, since there was no evidence of saturation.
The methodology and principles developed during this research are applicable to a number of
photovoltaic devices with quantum dots and nanocrystals, such as polymer plastic cells and dyesensitized porous metal oxide Gratzel cells, Dr. Sergeev told PhysOrg.com. Effective
harvesting and conversion of infrared radiation due to optimized electron-hole kinetics in
structures with quantum dots and nanocrystals will lead to potential breakthroughs in the area of
solar energy conversion.
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CHAPTER 7
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We exploit the photovoltaic properties of quantum dots with plans to use them as dye
replacements in dye sensitized cells such as those designed by Gratzel. An advantage of QD`s is
that they are more stable than dyes of their crystalline nature. Also dyes have low efficiency due
to re-absorption whereas qd emission is red shifted away from absorption.
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CHAPTER 8
Konarka's Technologies
Konarka is focused on the development and advancement of nano-enabled polymer photovoltaic
materials that are lightweight, flexible and more versatile than traditional solar materials.
Konarkas technology represents a new breed of coatable, plastic, flexible photovoltaic material
that can be used in many applications where traditional photovoltaic cannot compete. Konarka
has provided that breakthrough by developing photovoltaic cells on lower cost, lightweight,
flexible plastic substrates rather than on glass. Konarkas photovoltaic technology can utilize a
wider range of the light spectrum than conventional solar cells, visible and invisible light
sources, not just sunlight, can be used to generate power. Konarkas nanomaterials absorb
sunlight and indoor light. This light energy travels through the electrically active materials and a
series of electrodes and is converted into electrical energy. Konarkas unique photo reactive
materials can be printed or coated inexpensively onto flexible substrates using roll-to-roll
manufacturing, similar to how newspaper is printed on large rolls of paper. Just as newsprint can
include text, images, and a variety of colors, Konarkas photovoltaic materials can include a
range of colors and patterns. In addition, Konarkas materials can be produced with varying
degrees of translucency so they can be customized for use in new products and markets.
Konarkas manufacturing process enables production to scale easily and results in significantly
reduced costs over previous generations of solar cells. The process is environmentfriendly and
does not expose the materials to harmful high temperatures. Another significant advantage is that
it does not require the invention of a new factory to do this instead it can use existing coating
and printing machines and technologies. Finally, solar cells can be produced and used virtually
anywhere, enabling production even in regions where supporting infrastructure is generally
thought to be insufficient. solar power is four to ten times more costly to produce than electricity
from conventional power plants.For decades, solar-cell researchers have tried to develop cheaper
alternatives to silicon. The problem has been efficiency: other materials just dont generate
enough electricity.
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But Siemenss achievement earlier this year of the highest efficiency to date in plastic solar
cells could change that. The Siemens design combined two of the most important advances in
materials science in the past 30 years: electrically conducting polymers and buckyballs. The idea
of combining these materials to capture solar power first gained credence in the early 1990s,
when physicists Sariciftci and Alan Heeger at the University of California, Santa Barbara,
created primitive photovoltaic devices by pouring a solution of conducting plastic and buckyballs
onto a glass plate, spinning the plate to spread the solution into a film, and sandwiching the film
between electrodes. The conducting polymer absorbed photons, kicking off electrons that were
then attracted by the buckyballs and routed to an electrode. In short, the film acted like a solar
cell.Originally, the power output was meager (less than 1 percent of the energy of incoming
sunlight). But the principle of the printable solar cell was proved: you could layer a photovoltaic
material on a surface and make it work without complex preparations.
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CHAPTER 9
IMPROVEMENTS
Some of the obvious improvements include better light collection and concentration, which
already are employed in commercial solar cells. Significant improvements can be made in the
plastic, nanorods mix, too, ideally packing the nanorods closer together, perpendicular to the
electrodes, using minimal polymer, or even none-the nanorods would transfer their electrons
more directly to the electrode. In their first-generation solar cells, the nanorods are jumbled up in
the polymer, leading to losses of current via electron-hole recombination and thus lower
efficiency.
They also hope to tune the nanorods to absorb different colors to span the spectrum of sunlight.
An eventual solar cell has three layers each made of nanorods that absorb at different
wavelength.
CHAPTER 10
APPLICATIONS
1. Silicon possesses some nanoscale properties. This is being exploited in the development
of a super thin disposable solar panel poster which could offer the rural dwellers a
cheap and an alternative source of power. Most people living in remote areas are not
linked to national electricity grid and use batteries or run their own generator to supply
their power needs. Disposal solar panels can be made in thin sheets with about 6-10
sheets stacked together and made into a poster can help them to some extent in this
regard. This poster could be mounted behind a window or attached to a cabinet
2. Like paint the compound can also be sprayed onto other materials and used as portable
electricity.
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3. Any chip coated in the material could power cell phone or other wireless devices.
4. A hydrogen powered car painted with the film could potentially convert energy into
electricity to continually recharge the cars battery.
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generate enough clear energy to supply the entire planets power needs
CHAPTER 11
ADVANTAGES
Plastic solar cells are quite a lot useful in the coming future. This is because of the
large
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CHAPTER 12
DISADVANTAGES
1. The biggest problem with this is cost effectiveness. But that could change with new
material. But chemists have found a way to make cheap plastic solar cells flexible enough
to paint onto any surface and potentially able to provide electricity for wearable
electronics or other low power devices.
2. Relatively shorter life span when continuously exposed to sunlight.
3. Could possibly require higher maintenance and constant monitoring.
CHAPTER 13
CONCLUSION
Plastic solar cells help in exploiting the infrared radiation from the suns rays. They are more
effective when compared to the conventional solar cell. The major advantage they enjoy is that
they can even work on cloudy days, which is not possible in the former. They are more compact
and less bulky. Though at present, cost is a major drawback, it is bound be solved in the near
future as scientists are working in that direction. As explained earlier, if the solar farms can
become a reality, it could possibly solve the planets problem of depending too much on the fossil
fuels, without a chance of even polluting the environment.
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REFERENCES
1. Nanomaterials: Synthesis, Properties and Applications: Edelstein, A. S., Cammarata R. C.,
Eds.; Institute of Physics Publishing: Bristol and Philadelphia, 1996.
2. The Coming Era of Nanotechnology; 1987. Drexler, K. Eric, Doubleday; New York
3. A gentle introduction to the next big idea-Mark A. Ratner, Daniel Ratner.
4. Introduction to nanotechnology- Charles P Poole, Frank J Owens
5. The clean power revolution- Troy Helming
6. Solar energy-fundamentals, design, modeling, applications- G.N. Tiwari
7. Thin film solar cells next generation photovoltaic and its application- Y Hamakawa
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