Engineering Commons^™

Enhancing The Performance Of Building Integrated Photovoltaics, Brian Norton, Philip C. Eames, Tapas K. Mallick, Ming Jun Huang, Sarah J. Mccormack, Jayanta D. Mondol, Yigzaw G. Yohanis

Articles

Recent research in Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) is reviewed with the emphases on a range of key systems whose improvement would be likely to lead to improved solar energy conversion efficiency and/or economic viability. These include invertors, concentrators and thermal management systems. Advances in techniques for specific aspects of systems design, installation and operation are also discussed.

Improving The Efficiency Of Organic Solar Cells By Varying The Material Concentration In The Photoactive Layer, Kevin Anthony Latimer

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Polymer-fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells have been a rapidly improving technology over the past decade. To further improve the relatively low energy conversion efficiencies of these solar cells, several modifications need to be made to the overall device structure. Emerging technologies include cells that are fabricated with interfacial layers to facilitate charge transport, and tandem structures are being introduced to harness the absorption spectrum of polymers with varying bandgap energies.

When new structures are implemented, each layer of the cell must be optimized in order for the entire device to function efficiently. The most volatile layer of these devices is …

Cdte/Cds Thin Film Solar Cells Fabricated On Flexible Substrates, Vasilios Palekis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) is a leading thin film photovoltaic (PV) material due to its near ideal bandgap of 1.45 eV and its high optical absorption coefficient. The typical CdTe thin film solar cell is of the superstrate configuration where a window layer (CdS), the absorber (CdTe) and a back contact are deposited onto glass coated with a transparent electrode.

Substrate CdTe solar cells where the above listed films are deposited in reverse are not common. In this study substrate CdTe solar cells are fabricated on flexible foils.

The properties of the Molybdenum back contact, Zinc Telluride (ZnTe) interlayer and CdTe …

Hybrid Inorganic/Organic Nanostructured Tandem Solar Cells: Simulation And Fabrication Methods, Patrick Michael Boland Jr.

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Organic solar cell technologies continue to be an extremely active area of scientific research. With their promise of providing low-cost, easily-processable, multi-application photovoltaics, these devices could very possibly be the most viable and practical form of renewable energy among many being explored. However, significant technological obstacles remain that must be overcome if this technology is to successfully realize the goal of providing abundant energy while simultaneously reducing dependence on fossil fuel-based sources. Compared with inorganic solar photovoltaics, power conversion efficiencies in organics are still too low to compete economically.

Much research has been accomplished over the past three decades in …