Photovoltaics Beyond Silicon

The world demand for energy is dramatically increasing, especially for renewable non-fossil-based sources of electricity. The conversion of light from the sun into electrical energy, using photovoltaics, is one avenue that is being explored to meet these challenges both on the earth and in space. Photovoltaics Beyond Silicon: Innovative Materials, Sustainable Processing Technologies, and Novel Device Structures presents the latest innovations in materials, processing and devices to produce electricity via advanced, sustainable photovoltaics technologies. It provides an overview of the novel materials and device architectures that have been developed to optimize energy conversion efficiencies and minimize environmental impacts. Advances in technologies for harnessing solar energy are extensively discussed, with topics including materials processing, device fabrication, sustainability of materials and manufacturing, and the current state-of-the-art. Contributions from leading international experts discuss the applications, challenges and future prospects of research in this increasingly vital field, providing a valuable resource for students and researchers working in this area.

This book covers the recent advances in photovoltaics materials and their innovative applications. Many materials science problems are encountered in understanding existing solar cells and the development of more efficient, less costly, and more stable cells. This important and timely book provides a historical overview, but concentrates primarily on the exciting developments in the last decade. It includes organic and perovskite solar cells, photovoltaics in ferroelectric materials, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite, materials with improved photovoltaic efficiencies as well as the full range of semiconductor materials for solar-to-electricity conversion, from crystalline silicon and amorphous silicon to cadmium telluride, copper indium gallium sulfide selenides, dye sensitized solar cells, organic solar cells, and environmentally-friendly copper zinc tin sulfide selenides.

Polycrystalline silicon (commonly called "polysilicon") is the material of choice for photovoltaic (PV) applications. Polysilicon is the purest synthetic material on the market, though its processing through gas purification and decomposition (commonly called "Siemens" process) carries high environmental risk. While many current optoelectronic applications require high purity, PV applications do not and therefore alternate processes and materials are being explored for PV grade silicon. Solar Silicon Processes: Technologies, Challenges, and Opportunities reviews current and potential future processing technologies for PV applications of solar silicon. It describes alternative processes and issues of material purity, cost, and environmental impact. It covers limits of silicon use with respect to high-efficiency solar cells and challenges arising from R&D activities. The book also defines purity requirements and purification processes of metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si) and examines production of solar grade silicon by novel processes directly from MG-Si and/or by decomposition of silane gas in a fluidized bed reactor (FBR). Furthermore, the book: Analyzes past research and industrial development of low-cost silicon processes in view of understanding future trends in this field. Discusses challenges and probability of success of various solar silicon processes. Covers processes that are more environmentally sensitive. Describes limits of silicon use with respect to high-efficiency solar cells and challenges arising from R&D activities. Defines purity requirements and purification processes of MG-Si. Examines production of solar grade silicon directly from MG-Si.

The scientific community and industry have seen tremendous progress in efficient energy production and storage in the last few years. With the advancement in technology, new devices require high-performance, stretchable, bendable, and twistable energy sources, which can be integrated into next-generation wearable, compact, and portable electronics for medical, military, and civilian applications. Smart and Flexible Energy Devices examines the materials, basic working principles, and state-of-the-art progress of flexible devices like fuel cells, solar cells, batteries, and supercapacitors. Covering the synthesis approaches for advanced energy materials in flexible devices and fabrications and fundamental design concepts of flexible energy devices, such as fuel cells, solar cells, batteries, and supercapacitors, top author teams explore how newer materials with advanced properties are used to fabricate the energy devices to meet the future demand for flexible electronics. Additional features include: • Addressing the materials, technologies, and challenges of various flexible energy devices under one cover • Emphasizing the future demand and challenges of the field • Considering all flexible energy types, such as fuel cells, solar cells, batteries, and supercapacitors • Suitability for undergraduate and postgraduate students of material science and energy programs This is a valuable resource for academics and industry professionals working in the field of energy materials, nanotechnology, and energy devices.

This book contains the proceedings of CAETS 2015 Convocation on ‘Pathways to Sustainability: Energy, Mobility and Healthcare Engineering’ that was held on October 13-14, 2015 in New Delhi. This 3 volume proceedings provide an international forum for discussion and communication of engineering and technological issues of common concern. This volume talks about ‘Energy’ and includes 22 chapters on diverse topics like renewable energy, advances and applications of bio-energy and bio-refinery, energy options and scenarios, wind energy for buildings and transportation, etc. The contents of this volume will be useful to researchers, professionals, and policy makers alike.

This book is a concise review of the current status and future prospects of concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) technology. Starting with a summary of the current technical and economic status of CPV technology, it identifies the factors that hold CPV back in the commercial market. The main technical areas considered are solar cells, tracking and optics. The solar cells section focuses on spectrum splitting systems, which offer potentially higher efficiency than multi-junction cells with reductions in the manufacturing constraints that lead to high costs. It also offers a brief survey of the latest developments in spectral splitting alongside a discussion of the advances in solar cell manufacturing that aid the development of such systems. Further, it examines electrical design principles for spectral splitting systems that can improve the spectral stability of these systems’ performance. The section on tracking includes a description of tracking integration with an update of the review published in Nature, presenting the latest advances in the field and focusing on surveying conceptual approaches rather than providing an exhaustive description of the literature. The optics section explores 3D printing and other emerging methods of fabricating optics for both prototype and large-scale production, as well as new classes of concentrators, particularly those based on novel photonic materials such as angular filters. Lastly, the authors consider the impact that environmental factors have on the performance of CPV in non-standard environments before concluding with a discussion of the combinations of technologies that they anticipate will most effectively boost CPV in the commercial market.

First published in 1999, this volume provide a useful contribution to global CO2 mitigation in an effort towards effective climate protection achieved through national and international efforts. This volume forms part of an international monograph publishing series covering new research into the ‘green’ issues such as government, corporate and public responses to environmental hazards, the economics of green policies and the effectiveness of environmental protection programmes.