13-10-2010, 04:00 PM
6)NANOTECHNOLOGY IN SOLAR CELL.doc (Size: 386.5 KB / Downloads: 90)
This article is presented by:
Girish N. Chaple
Tushar P. Uplanchiwar
Ashvini D. Kapale
NANOTECHNOLOGY IN SOLAR CELL
Abstract
Current solar power technology has little chance to compete with fossil fuels or large electric grids. Today’s solar cells are simply not efficient enough and are currently too expensive to manufacture for large-scale electricity generation. The emergence of semiconductor nanocrystals As the building blocks of nanotech has opened up new ways toutilize them in text generation solar cells. However, potential advancements innanotechnology may open the door to the production of cheaper and slightly more efficient solar cells. This paper made comparisons between conventional solar cells and solar cells made up of nanotechnology working process, cost, efficiency. It also focus on different application of revolutionize the electronics industry, to provide electricity for rural areas.
.Introduction
Nanotechnology might be able to increase the efficiency of solar cells, but the most promising application of nanotechnology is the reduction of manufacturing cost. Chemists at the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered a way to make cheap plastic solar cells that could be painted on almost any surface. These new plastic solar cells achieve efficiencies of only 1.7 percent; however, Paul Alivisatos, a professor of chemistry at UC Berkeley states, "This technology has the potential to do a lot better. There is a pretty clear path for us to take to make this perform much better”(Ref. 5). Improvements such as this could make it possible to manufacture inexpensive solar cells with the same efficiency as current technology. Since the manufacturing cost of conventional solar cells is one of the biggest drawbacks, this new technology could have some impressive effects on our daily lives. Although this new technology is only capable of supplying low power devices with sufficient energy, its implications on society would still be tremendous. It would help preserve the environment, decrease soldiers carrying loads, provide electricity for rural areas, and have a wide array of commercial applications due to its wireless capabilities.
2. Working of Conventional solar cells
Before introducing new solar products which use nanotechnology, it is necessary to explain the basic process that a normal solar cell uses. Conventional solar cells are called photovoltaic cells. these cells are made out of semiconducting material, usually silicon. When light hits the cells, they absorb energy though photons. This absorbed energy knocks out electrons in the silicon, allowing them to flow. by adding different impurities to the silicon such as phosphorus or boron, an electric field can be established. This electric field band gap energy then it will pass through. If it has more energy than the band gap, then that acts as a diode because it only allows electrons to flow in one direction (Ref. 1). Consequently, the end result is a current of electrons, better known to us as electricity.