• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.595-603
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• 2010

This paper deals with an economic evaluation of domestic window type photoelectrochemical hydrogen production utilizing solar cells. We make some sensitivity analysis of hydrogen production prices by changing the values of input factors such as the initial capital cost, the solar to hydrogen conversion efficiency, and the system duration time. The hydrogen production price of the window type photoelectrochemical system was estimated as 1,168,972 won/$kgH_2$. It is expected that hydrogen production cost can be reduced to 47,601 won/$kgH_2$ if the solar to hydrogen conversion efficiency is increased to 14%, the system duration time is increased to 20,000 hours, and the initial capital cost is decreased to 25% of the current level. We also evaluate the hydrogen production cost of the water electrolysis using the electricity produced by solar cells. The corresponding hydrogen production cost was estimated as 37,838 won/$kgH_2$. The photoelectrochemical hydrogen production is evaluated as uneconomical at this time, and we need to enhance the solar to hydrogen conversion efficiency and the system duration time as well as to reduce prices of the system facilities.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.422-426
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• 2016

With the increase in installed solar energy capacity, comparison and analysis of the physical property values of solar cells are becoming increasingly important for production. Therefore, research on determining the physical characteristic values of solar cells is being actively pursued. In this study, a diode equation, which is commonly used to describe the I-V behavior and determine the electrical characteristic values of solar cells, was applied. Using this method, it is possible to determine the diode ideality factor (n) and series resistance ($R_s$) based on light I-V measurements. Thus, using a commercial screen-printed solar cell and an interdigitated back-contact solar cell, we determined the ideality factor (n) and series resistance ($R_s$) with a modified diode equation method for the light I-V curves. We also used the sun-shade method to determine the ideality factor (n) and series resistance ($R_s$) of the samples. The values determined using the two methods were similar. However, given the error in the sun-shade method, the diode equation is considered more useful than the sun-shade method for analyzing the electrical characteristics because it determines the ideality factor (n) and series resistance ($R_s$) based on the light I-V curves.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.95-100
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• 2022

Solar cell is a device that converts photon energy into electrical energy. Therefore, absorption of solar spectrum light is one of the most important characteristics to design the solar cell structures. Various methods have emerged to reduce optical losses, such as textured surfaces, back contact solar cells, anti-reflection layers. Here, the anti-reflection coating (ARC) layer is typically utilized whose refractive index value is between air (~1) and silicon (~4) such as SiN_x layer (~1.9). This research is to print a material called polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to form a double anti-reflection layer. Light with wavelength in the range of 0.3 to 1.2 micrometers does not share a wavelength with solar cells. It is confirmed that the refractive index of PDMS (~1.4) is an ARC layer which decreases the reflectance of light absorption region on typical p-type solar cells with SiN_x layer surface. Optimized PDMS printing with analyzing optical property for cell structure can be the effective way against outer effects by encapsulation.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.67-75
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• 2015

PV module is conventionally connected in series with some solar cell to adjust the output of module. Some bypass diodes in module are installed to prevent module from hot spot and mismatch power loss. However, bypass diode in module exposed outdoor is easily damaged by surge voltage. In this paper, we study the thermal and electrical characteristics change of module with damaged bypass diode to easily find module with damaged bypass diode in photovoltaic system consisting of many modules. Firstly, the temperature change of bypass diode is measured according to forward and reverse bias current flowing through bypass diode. The maximum surface temperature of damaged bypass diode applied reverse bias is higher than that of normal bypass diode despite flowing equal current. Also, the output change of module with and without damaged bypass diode is observed. The output of module with damaged bypass diode is proportionally reduced by the total number of connected solar cells per one bypass diode. Lastly, the distribution temperature of module with damaged bypass diode is confirmed by IR camera. Temperature of all solar cells connected with damaged bypass diode rises and even hot spot of some solar cells is observed. We confirm that damaged bypass diodes in module lead to power drop of module, temperature rise of module and temperature rise of bypass diode. Those results are used to find module with a damaged bypass diode in system.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.699-704
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• 2017

The amount of electric power for photovoltaic power generation depends on the location of the power plant and the direction of solar cell. The solar cell controls the generation of solar power plants. Therefore, the structure of solar cell, manufacturing method, and optic technology were factors contributing to increased solar cell efficiency; however, the technical limit has been reached. Herein, we propose a new method to increase the solar cell efficiency using a wavelength conversion technology that converts ultraviolet and infrared rays, which are not effectively used in solar cells, into effective wavelength of solar cell. We used fluoride $Na(Ca)YF_4$ phosphor for wavelength conversion. Then, a wavelength-conversion fluorescent paste, prepared using an organic-silicon binder, was used to prepare a film that was applied to Si solar cells. It was confirmed that conversion efficiency improved by 5% or more.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.113-116
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• 2005

In this paper, silicon thin-film solar cells(Si- TFSC) and a-Si/c-Si heterojunction solar cells(HJ-cell) are investigated. The Si-TFSC was prepared on glass substrate by depositing $1-3{\mu}m$ thin-film silicons by glow discharge method. The $a-Si:H/{\mu}c-Si:H$ tandem solar cells on textured ZnO:A1 TCO (transparent conducting oxide) showed improved Jsc in top and bottom cells than that on $SnO_2:F$ TCO. This enhancement of jsc resulted from improved light trapping effect by front textured ZnO:A1. The a-Si/c-Si HJ-cells with simple structure without high efficiency features are suffering from low Voc and Jsc. The improvement of front nip and back interface properties by adopting high quality silicon-films at low temperature should be done both for increasing device performances and production cost.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.673-677
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• 1996

Copper phthalocyanine(CuPc) thick film solar cells were fabgricated byspin coating and their photovoltaic behavior was studied. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF) was used for the binder. Aluminum and indium were employed as electrode metals to form Schottky contact to CuPc layer. The cells showed rectifying J-V characteristics in the dark and photovoltaic effect associated with white light irradiation. The photovoltaic performance of the cells strongly depended on contact metals, in which the formation of oxide layer between binder layer and electrode interface affected the solar cell. Influnce of the CuPc layer thickness, CuPc/PVdF ratio on the photovoltaic performance of the cells were also examined.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.29-32
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• 2003

Polymer electrolyte membranes are developed for the applications to facilitated transport membranes, fuel cells and solar cells. The polymer electrolyte membranes containing silver salt show the remarkably high separation performance for olefin/paraffin mixture in the solid state; the propylene permeance is 45 GPU and the ideal selectivity of propylene/propane is 15,000. For fuel cell membranes, the effects of the presence and size of the proton transport channels on the proton conductivity and methanol permeability were investigated. The cell performance for dye-sensitized solar cells employing polymer electrolytes are measured under light illumination. The overall energy conversion efficiency reaches 5.44 % at 10 ㎽/$\textrm{cm}^2$, to our knowledge the highest value ever reported in the polymer electrolytes.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.12-15
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• 2016

Screen printing technique followed by firing has commonly been used as metallization for both laboratory and industrial based solar cells. In the solar cell industry, the firing process is usually conducted in a belt furnace and needs to be optimized for fabricating high efficiency solar cells. The printed-Al layer on the silicon is rapidly heated at over $800^{\circ}C$ which forms a layer of back surface field (BSF) between Si-Al interfaces. The BSF layer forms $p-p^+$ structure on the rear side of cells and lower rear surface recombination velocity (SRV). To have low SRV, deep $p^+$ layer and uniform junction formation are required. In this experiment, firing process was carried out by using conventional tube furnace with $N_2$ gas atmosphere to optimize $V_{oc}$ of laboratory cells. To measure the thickness of BSF layer, selective etching was conducted by using a solution composed of hydrogen fluoride, nitric acid and acetic acid. The $V_{oc}$ and pseudo efficiency were measured by Suns-$V_{oc}$ to compare cell properties with varied firing condition.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.69-72
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• 2014

We investigated current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance (C)-V characteristics of solution-processed thin film solar cells, consisting of $Cu(In,Ga)S_2$ and $CuInS_2$ stacked absorber layers. The ideality factors, extracted from the temperature-dependent I-V curves, showed that the tunneling-mediated interface recombination was dominant in the cells. Rapid increase of both series- and shunt-resistance at low temperatures would limit the performance of the cells, requiring further optimization. The C-V data revealed that the carrier concentration of the $CuInS_2$ layer was about 10 times larger than that of the $Cu(In,Ga)S_2$ layer. All these results could help us to find strategies to improve the efficiency of the solution-processed thin film solar cells.