The figure to the right shows sunlight intensity as a function of wavelength. Answer the following questions about materials that could act as the absorber (p-type semiconductor) in a heterojunction solar cell. a.What advantage would there be in using a 1000-nm wavelength bandgap absorber vs. one that had a 400-nm wavelength bandgap? (HINT: the bandgap is the minimum energy required to promote electrons.) b. One reason the electron-volt (eV) is often used as the bandgap unit in solar cell research is that the bandgap in eV is also equal to the maximum voltage that can be generated by the solar cell. With this in mind, what advantage would there be in using a 400-nm wavelength bandgap absorber vs. one that had a 1000-nm wavelength bandgap? c.In light of your answers to (a) and (b), can there be one “best” bandgap to use in a solar cell?
The figure to the right shows sunlight intensity as a function of wavelength. Answer the following questions about materials that could act as the absorber (p-type semiconductor) in a heterojunction solar cell.
a.What advantage would there be in using a 1000-nm wavelength bandgap absorber vs. one that had a 400-nm wavelength bandgap? (HINT: the bandgap is the minimum energy required to promote electrons.)
b. One reason the electron-volt (eV) is often used as the bandgap unit in solar cell research is that the bandgap in eV is also equal to the maximum voltage that can be generated by the solar cell. With this in mind, what advantage would there be in using a 400-nm wavelength bandgap absorber vs. one that had a 1000-nm wavelength bandgap?
c.In light of your answers to (a) and (b), can there be one “best” bandgap to use in a solar cell?
Step by step
Solved in 6 steps with 1 images