The history of “Photovoltaic”

The history of “Photovoltaic” (PV) industrial development has been running about 50 years, and have been many studies done in the hope that one day could produce cheap solar cells and feasible compared with artificial electricity (hydro or nuclear) to solve the problem of availability of environment friendly electricity at all levels of this world.

In the late 19th century, solar electricity discovered by German physicist named Alexandre Edmond Becquerel accident where the sun rays fall on the solution of electro-chemical research materials, so the charge of electrons in the solution increases, there is no scientific explanation of the event. Not until the early 20th century, Albert Einstein called the discovery of this natural electrical event with “Photoelectric Effect”, which is the basic understanding of the “Photovoltaic Effect” (Albert Einstein got the Nobel Prize in Physics).

“Photoelectric Effect” comes from Einstein’s observations on a plate of metal release “photon” particles of light energy when exposed to sunlight. Photon continuously urged metal atoms and form a particle “Photon Energy”-is the wave of light energy.

Ultraviolet light waves, light that are high charged photon energy and short wavelength, while red light (infra-red) is low charged photon energy and long waves.

Then around the year 1930, research continued and related to discovery of the “Quantum Mechanics” concept, to create new technologies “solid-state”, which then the Bell Telephone Research Laboratories company create the first solid Solar Cell.

Year 1950 – 1960, technology of solar cell design and efficiency continued and applied to the spacecraft (photovoltaic energies). In 1970′s, the world encourage “renewable” alternative energy sources and environmentally friendly, then the PV is applied to the “low power warning systems” and “offshore buoys” (but the PV production could not be much because it is still “handmade”).

Just in 1980, the PV companies joined with government energy agencies in order to produce the PV cells in large numbers, so the price of solar cells can be more suppressed as low as possible.

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Solar Photovoltaic: Future Energy Sources

In general, energy sources are categorized into two parts namely non-renewable energy and renewable energy. Fossil energy sources are among the first group that the bulk of activity in the world using these conventional energy.

It is no doubt that the solar photovoltaic is one source of environmentally friendly energy and is very promising in the future, because there is no pollution produced during the process of energy conversion, and more widely available source of energy in nature, namely the sun.

Fundamental issues in solar cell technology is a very low efficiency in turning solar energy into electrical energy, which to date the highest efficiency can be achieved no more than 20%, and even then in a laboratory scale.

For that in developed countries, research on solar cell is a very big concern, especially with the issue of environmental clean.

From light into electricity

In a simple solar photovoltaic consists of the p-type and n junction semiconductor material (pn junction semiconductor) that if by the sun there will be a flow of electrons, electron flow is well known as the electric current flow. While the structure of the solar cell is as shown in Figure 1.

The main part of the energy changes of sunlight to electricity is the absorber, however, each layer is also very influential on the efficiency of the solar cell. Sunlight consists of various types of electromagnetic waves in a spectrum can be seen in figure 2. Therefore here absorber is expected to absorb as much solar radiation derived from sunlight.

More detail can be explained that the sun consists of a photon-photon, if it happen to solar cell surface material (absorber), will be absorbed, reflected or simply passed (see Figure 3), and only photons with certain energy level that will liberate electrons from atomic bonds, so that electrical current flows. Energy levels is called band-gap energy which is defined as the amount of energy required to discharge electrons out of its covalent bond so that there electric current flow. To free electron from its covalent bond, photon energy (hc/v) must be slightly larger or above than the band-gap energy. If the photon energy is too much of the energy band-gap, then the extra energy will be converted in the form of heat in a solar cell. Therefore it is important to the solar cell to regulate the materials used, namely by modifying the molecular structure of the semiconductor used.

Of course, that the efficiency of solar cell can be high if the photons from sunlight to be absorbed that as much, then reduce reflection and increase recombination and conductivity of the material.

To be able to make that a photon is absorbed can be as much, then the absorber must have an energy band-gap with a wide range, making it possible to absorb sunlight so energy has a variety of these. One of the many materials being studied are known CuInSe2 is one of the direct semiconductor.

So many advantages of solar photovoltaic as described above was not a polemic and not just stop, saying there was a solar photovoltaic is true when the energy change process there is no pollution produced, but have we calculated how much pollution has been generated in the process manufacturing, small compared to the resulting efficiency. Now the challenge here is indeed how to increase efficiency, which would affect its economic value.

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