Thermodynamics of losses in photovoltaic conversion
Thermodynamics of losses in photovoltaic conversion
This letter presents a thermodynamic analysis of losses in an ideal solar cell. It is shown that the maximum voltage—corresponding to the voltage produced by a hot-carrier solar cell — is equal to the energy of the incident solar photon multiplied by the appropriate Carnot factor. Voltage generated by the usual p-n junction cell is lower on account of entropy generation through kinetic losses, photon cooling, and étendue expansion of the incident beam. Simple expressions can be
obtained by an approximation where the energy and entropy changes are modeled by the corresponding expressions for a two-dimensional ideal photon gas.
064102-[3pp]
Markvart, Tom
f21e82ec-4e3b-4485-9f27-ffc0102fdf1c
6 August 2007
Markvart, Tom
f21e82ec-4e3b-4485-9f27-ffc0102fdf1c
Markvart, Tom
(2007)
Thermodynamics of losses in photovoltaic conversion.
Applied Physics Letters, 91 (6), .
(doi:10.1063/1.2766857).
Abstract
This letter presents a thermodynamic analysis of losses in an ideal solar cell. It is shown that the maximum voltage—corresponding to the voltage produced by a hot-carrier solar cell — is equal to the energy of the incident solar photon multiplied by the appropriate Carnot factor. Voltage generated by the usual p-n junction cell is lower on account of entropy generation through kinetic losses, photon cooling, and étendue expansion of the incident beam. Simple expressions can be
obtained by an approximation where the energy and entropy changes are modeled by the corresponding expressions for a two-dimensional ideal photon gas.
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ApplPhysLett_91-064102-07.pdf
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Published date: 6 August 2007
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Engineering Mats & Surface Engineerg Gp
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Local EPrints ID: 48122
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/48122
ISSN: 0003-6951
PURE UUID: 6aa51b3f-1110-4873-964b-e6a464161f6e
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Date deposited: 29 Aug 2007
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 09:43
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