Coloquio de Física - Development of advanced semiconductor materials and devices for next-generation photovoltaics: opportunities and challenges

   Departamentos        Ciencias - Sección Física

Ponente: Mohamed Henini (University of Nottingham) Solar cells are made of semiconductor materials that convert energy from the Sun directly into electrical energy. Sunlight consists of a spectrum of different wavelengths of light, each corresponding to a different energy level. Semiconductor materials can only convert sunlight of specific wavelengths and energy into electrical energy. Remaining energy from the Sun is lost. Existing semiconductors cannot utilise the entire spectrum distribution of sunlight. The strategy to increase the efficiency of solar cells is to use semiconductors optimised for different wavelength ranges of the spectrum. Existing “three junction” solar cells are capable of converting sunlight from three regions of the spectrum into electrical energy. There is a great interest worldwide in developing innovative semiconductor materials capable of converting sunlight from a fourth specific portion of the solar spectrum into electrical energy. In this talk, I will give an overview of the principles of solar cells, the properties of semiconductors suitable for solar cells, and some selected recent achievements in III-V solar cells.