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What are Solar Cells? 

A solar cell, also known as a photovoltaic cell, is an electrical device that converts light energy into electricity by the photovoltaic effect. Solar cells use semiconductors to interact with photons coming from the sun to generate an electric current [1]. 

Solar cells are made of two layers of treated silicon for electricity to flow through when exposed to sunlight. One of those layers is positively charged and the other is negatively charged. The photovoltaic effect is the process in which voltage or electric current in the solar cell is generated [1]. The two layers are two different types of semiconductors, p-type and n-type, and join to form a p-n junction. An electric field is formed at the junction when electrons travel to the p-side and holes travel to the n-side [1]. When light is involved, energy from a photon is transferred to an electron causing it to jump to the conduction band and this motion creates an electric current [1]. 

Types of Solar Cells 

Perovskite Solar Cell 

Perovskite solar cells (PSC) uses a perovskite-structure compound as the light-harvesting layer and these materials are cheap to produce [2]. Currently, the solar cell efficiency is around 25% and is the fastest advancing solar cell technology. 

Organic Solar Cell 

Organic solar cells use organic polymers or organic molecules for light absorption and charge transport to produce electricity from sunlight [2]. Organic solar cells are flexible, lightweight, have low production costs, and have a high optical absorption coefficient. 

Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC)

A DSSC is a thin film solar cell that is inexpensive to manufacture. For this solar cell, a semiconductor is formed between a photo-synthesized anode and an electrolyte [2]. The cell is semi-flexible and semi-transparent and its conversion efficiency is better than most thin-film solar cells. 

Nanocrystal Solar Cell 

Nanocrystal solar cells are solar cells that have a substrate with a nanocrystal coating [2]. Colloidal synthesis is utilized and a thin layer of nanocrystals is obtained through spin-coating. This type of solar cell has the ability to offer better efficiency, flexibility, lower costs, and clean power generation. 

Gold Nanoparticles and Solar Cells 

Advancements in solar cells, in particular organic solar cells, have been due to the incorporation of gold nanoparticles in the cell [3]. The use of gold nanoparticles in organic solar cell devices lead to better photoabsorption and enhanced power conversion efficiencies. However, improvements in these factors depend on different AuNP production and embedding methods [3]. Factors such as concentration, size, geometry, and location within the device must be considered. With these factors considered, gold nanoparticles have shown very promising results and solar cell efficiency has seen improvements. 

References

[1] Simpleray, “How Dose A Solar Cell Generate Power?,”. [Online]. Available: https://www.simpleray.com/resources-and-informations/how-does-a-solar-cell-generate-power

[2] Energy Education, “Photovoltaic Cell,”. [Online]. Available: https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Photovoltaic_cell

[3] Energy Education, “Types of photovoltaic cells”. [Online]. Available: https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Types_of_photovoltaic_cells

[4] Marco Notarianni et al "Plasmonic effect of gold nanoparticles in organic solar cells," 2019. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2013.09.026

Contributors:

Faculty Advisor: Ahmad Ghavami