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Top-Down Aluminum Induced Crystallization For Photovoltaics, Seth Daniel Shumate

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Passivating silicon solar cell surfaces is critical to fabricating very high efficiency and low cost photovoltaic devices. The sun-facing surface of the solar cell, known as the emitter, is particularly important when designing a solar cell. This work focused first on an alternative method of forming the emitter of silicon solar cells, and secondly on a method for improving the surface passivation of both these non-traditional and standard n-type solar cells.

Top-down aluminum induced crystallization (TAIC) was used for forming a polycrystalline silicon layer from amorphous silicon using aluminum to catalyze the crystallization at much lower temperatures than otherwise possible. …

Enhancement Of The Performance Of Gaas Based Solar Cells By Using Plasmonic, Anti-Reflection Coating And Hydrophobic Effects, Yahia Fayiz Makableh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Investigation of renewable energy resources is gaining huge momentum in recent years due to the limited fossil fuels, and their detriment impact on the environment. Solar energy is promising to meet the increased energy demand. In order to achieve this goal, solar energy has to be harvested efficiently at low cost. Therefore, higher efficiency solar cells are the primary focus of research worldwide. Photovoltaics based on InAs/GaAs intermediate band solar cells and their device performance enhancements are investigated in this dissertation. The device enhancement is carried out by surface modification methods. The dissertation work is inspired by the need of …

Life Cycle Assessment Projection Of Photovoltaic Cells: A Case Study On Energy Demand Of Quantum Wire Based Photovoltaic Technology Research, Shilpi Mukherjee

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With increasing clean-energy demand, photovoltaic (PV) technologies have gained attention as potential long-term alternative to fossil fuel energy. However, PV research and manufacture still utilize fossil fuel-powered grid electricity. With continuous enhancement of solar conversion efficiency, it is imperative to assess whether overall life cycle efficiency is also being enhanced. Many new-material PV technologies are still in their research phase, and life cycle analyses of these technologies have not yet been performed. For best results, grid dependency must be minimized for PV research, and this can be accomplished by an analytical instrument called Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

LCA is the …