A

SEMINAR REPORT

on

HOT SOLAR CELL

Submitted for partial fulfillment of award of

B. Tech Degree

In
Electrical and Electronics Engineering

SUBMITTED BY

ASHOK KUMAR 1613321028

SUBMITTED TO

MR. MD ZESHAN & MS. NEHA JAIN

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

NOIDA INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY, GREATER NOIDA

2017-2018

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I owe a great many thanks to a number of people who helped and supported me during the
writing of this report.

My deep sense of gratitude to DR. S. GAIROLA (HOD OF EEE DEPT. NIET) for his
support and guidance.

My also thanks to Ms. Neha Jain & Mr. MD Zeshan for guiding and correcting various
documents of mine with attention and care. He has taken pain to go through the project and
make necessary correction as and when needed.

And last but not the least we express our deepest gratitude towards the teaching staff. We are
also grateful to our colleagues who helped us in this mission to finish the task successfully.

Date:- 15 Oct 2018

Student name:- Ashok Kumar

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 CERTIFICATE

Certified that the work contained in the project titled “Hot Solar Cell”, by Ashok

Kumar, has been carried out under my supervision and that this work has not been

submitted elsewhere for a degree.

Prof. Supervisor Name:- Dr. Sudha Bansal

Dept. Name:- Electrical & Electronics Engineering
NIET Gr. Noida, UP

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 ABSTRACTS

A new solar device, developed by a team of MIT scientists, converts heat into focused

beams of light to create inexpensive and continuous power.

Existing solar panels are bulky, expensive and inefficient. These conventional

photovoltaics are limited and can only absorb a fraction of energy from sunlight. The

new device turns sunlight into heat and then converts back it into light, which is

focused within the spectrum that solar cells can use.

The silicon solar cells, which are used today, capture the visual light from violet to red.

This is a limiting factor which means that they can never generate more than 32% of the

energy in sunlight into electricity. The new design could lead to inexpensive solar

power that keeps working after the sun sets.

The new solar power device could hypothetically double the efficiency of conventional

solar cells.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS Page No.

Front Page 1
Acknowledgement 2
Certificate 3
Abstracts 4
Table of Contents 5
List of Figures 6
List of Tables 7
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 8-10
CHAPTER 2 BASIC OF SOLAR CELL 11-17
2.1 What is Solar Cell? 11
2.2 Solar Cell Types 11
2.3 Solar Cell Structure 12
2.4 How Solar Cell Works? 13
2.5 Characteristics of Solar Cell 13
2.6 From the Cell to the Module 13
2.7 Natural Limits of Efficiency 14
2.8 Solar PV System 15
2.9 Solar Cell Advantages 15
2.10 Solar Cell Applications 16
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CHAPTER 3 HOT SOLAR CELL 18-21
3.1 Absorber - Emitter 18
3.2 Classifications of Photonic Crystals 19
3.3 Photon Recycling 19
CHAPTER 4 ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES 22
CHAPTER 5 FUTURE PREDICTION 23
APPENDIX – A KEY PLAYER 24
APPENDIX – B REFERENCES 24

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 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure
Figure Name Page No.
No.

Figure 1 Future Energy Sources 10

Figure 2.1 Monocrystalline Silicon 12

Figure 2.2 Polycrystalline Silicon 12

Figure 2.3 Amorphous Silicon 12

Figure 2.4 Working of Solar Cell 13

Figure 2.5 V-I Characteristics of Silicon Solar Cell 14

Figure 2.6 Cell, Module Array 14

Figure 2.7 Theoretical Maximum Levels of Efficiency of Various Solar

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Cells at Standard Conditions

Figure 2.8 Simple Solar PV System Arrangement 16

Figure 3.1 Paint vs Vantablack 18

Figure 3.2 1D, 2D, 3D Photonic Crystals 19

Figure 3.3 Black carbon nanotubes sit on top of the absorber-emitter

layer, collecting energy across the solar spectrum and 20
converting it to heat

Figure 3.4 The absorber-emitter layer is situated above an optical filter

20
and photovoltaic cell

Figure 3.5 Concentrated light from a solar simulator shines through the
window of a vacuum chamber, where it reaches the solar TPV 21
device and generates electricity

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 LIST OF TABLES
Table No. Table Name Page No.

Table 2.1 Different Type of Materials for Solar Cell & Their Efficiency 12

Table 2.2 Solar Cell Applications 17

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 CHAPTER1

INTRODUCTION

A team of MIT researchers has for the first time demonstrated a device based on a method that
enables solar cells to break through a theoretically predicted ceiling on how much sunlight
they can convert into electricity.

Ever since 1961 it has been known that there is an absolute theoretical limit, called the
Shockley-Queisser Limit, to how efficient traditional solar cells can be in their energy
conversion. For a single-layer cell made of silicon — the type used for the vast majority of
today’s solar panels — that upper limit is about 32 percent. But it has also been known that
there are some possible avenues to increase that overall efficiency, such as by using multiple
layers of cells, a method that is being widely studied, or by converting the sunlight first to heat
before generating electrical power. It is the latter method, using devices known as solar
thermophotovoltaics, or STPVs, that the team has now demonstrated.

The findings are reported this week in the journal Nature Energy, in a paper by MIT doctoral
student David Bierman, professors Evelyn Wang and Marin Soljačić, and four others.

While all research in traditional photovoltaics faces the same underlying theoretical
limitations, Bierman says, “with solar thermophotovoltaics you have the possibility to exceed
that.” In fact, theory predicts that in principle this method, which involves pairing
conventional solar cells with added layers of high-tech materials, could more than double the
theoretical limit of efficiency, potentially making it possible to deliver twice as much power
from a given area of panels.

“We believe that this new work is an exciting advancement in the field,” Wang says, “as we
have demonstrated, for the first time, an STPV device that has a higher solar-to-electrical
conversion efficiency compared to that of the underlying PV cell.” In the demonstration, the
team used a relatively low-efficiency PV cell, so the overall efficiency of the system was only
6.8 percent, but it clearly showed, in direct comparisons, the improvement enabled by the
STPV system.

The basic principle is simple: Instead of dissipating unusable solar energy as heat in the solar
cell, all of the energy and heat is first absorbed by an intermediate component, to temperatures
that would allow that component to emit thermal radiation. By tuning the materials and
configuration of these added layers, it’s possible to emit that radiation in the form of just the
right wavelengths of light for the solar cell to capture. This improves the efficiency and
reduces the heat generated in the solar cell.

The key is using high-tech materials called nanophotonic crystals, which can be made to emit
precisely determined wavelengths of light when heated. In this test, the nanophotonic crystals
are integrated into a system with vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, and operate at a high
temperature of 1,000 degrees Celsius. Once heated, the nanophotonic crystals continue to emit

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a narrow band of wavelengths of light that precisely matches the band that an adjacent
photovoltaic cell can capture and convert to an electric current. “The carbon nanotubes are
virtually a perfect absorber over the entire color spectrum,” Bierman says, allowing it to
capture the full solar spectrum. “All of the energy of the photons gets converted to heat.”
Then, that heat gets re-emitted as light but, thanks to the nanophotonic structure, is converted
to just the colors that match the PV cell’s peak efficiency.

In operation, this approach would use a conventional solar-concentrating system, with lenses
or mirrors that focus the sunlight, to maintain the high temperature. An additional component,
an advanced optical filter, lets through all the desired wavelengths of light to the PV cell,
while reflecting back any unwanted wavelengths, since even this advanced material is not
perfect in limiting its emissions. The reflected wavelengths then get re-absorbed, helping to
maintain the heat of the photonic crystal.

Bierman says that such a system could offer a number of advantages over conventional
photovoltaics, whether based on silicon or other materials. For one thing, the fact that the
photonic device is producing emissions based on heat rather than light means it would be
unaffected by brief changes in the environment, such as clouds passing in front of the sun. In
fact, if coupled with a thermal storage system, it could in principle provide a way to make use
of solar power on an around-the-clock basis. “For me, the biggest advantage is the promise of
continuous on-demand power,” he says.

In addition, because of the way the system harnesses energy that would otherwise be wasted as
heat, it can reduce excessive heat generation that can damage some solar-concentrating
systems.

To prove the method worked, the team ran tests using a photovoltaic cell with the STPV
components, first under direct sunlight and then with the sun completely blocked so that only
the secondary light emissions from the photonic crystal were illuminating the cell. The results
showed that the actual performance matched the predicted improvements.

“A lot of the work thus far in this field has been proof-of-concept demonstrations,” Bierman
says. “This is the first time we’ve actually put something between the sun and the PV cell to
prove the efficiency” of the thermal system. Even with this relatively simple early-stage
demonstration, Bierman says, “we showed that just with our own unoptimized geometry, we
in fact could break the Shockley-Queisser limit.” In principle, such a system could reach
efficiencies greater than that of an ideal solar cell.

The next steps include finding ways to make larger versions of the small, laboratory-scale
experimental unit, and developing ways of manufacturing such systems economically.

This represents a “significant experimental advance,” says Peter Bermel, an assistant professor
of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, who was not associated with this
work. “To the best of my knowledge, this is a new record for solar TPV, using a solar
simulator, selective absorber, selective filter, and photovoltaic receiver, that reasonably
represents actual performance that might be achievable outdoors.” He adds, “It also shows that
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solar TPV can exceed PV output with a direct comparison of the same cells, for a sufficiently
high input power density, lending this approach to applications using concentrated sunlight.”

The research team also included MIT alumnus Andrej Lenert PhD ’14, now a research fellow
at the University of Michigan, MIT postdocs Walker Chan and Bikram Bhatia, and research
scientist Ivan Celanovic. The work was supported by the Solid-State Solar Thermal Energy
Conversion (STEC) Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Figure 1 (Future Energy Sources)

This concept is so promising when it was named as one of MIT 10 Breakthrough Technologies
of 2017.

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 CHAPTER 2

BASIC OF SOLAR CELL

Solar energy is the ultimate source of energy, which is naturally replenished in a short period
of time, for this reason it is called "renewable energy" or "sustainable energy" source. To take
advantages of solar energy, the variety of technologies is used to covert solar energy to heat
and electricity. The use of solar energy involves 'energy conservation' because it is the way to
use energy source that comes from the nature and uses it more wisely and efficiently. That
way includes Solar Cell, which is described as follows:

2.1 What is Solar Cell?

Solar Cell or Photovoltaic (PV) cell is a device that is made up of semiconductor materials
such as silicon, gallium arsenide and cadmium telluride, etc. that converts sunlight directly
into electricity. When solar cells absorb sunlight, free electrons and holes are created at
positive/negative junctions. If the positive and negative junctions of solar cell are connected to
DC electrical equipment, current is delivered to operate the electrical equipment.

2.2 Solar Cell Types

One can distinguish three cell types according to the type of crystal: monocrystalline,
polycrystalline and amorphous. To produce a monocrystalline silicon cell, absolutely pure
semiconducting material is necessary. Monocrystalline rods are extracted from melted silicon
and then sawed into thin plates. This production process guarantees a relatively high level of
efficiency.
The production of polycrystalline cells is more cost-efficient. In this process, liquid silicon is
poured into blocks that are subsequently sawed into plates. During solidification of the
material, crystal structures of varying sizes are formed, at whose borders defects emerge. As a
result of this crystal defect, the solar cell is less efficient.
If a silicon film is deposited on glass or another substrate material, this is a so-called
amorphous or thin layer cell. The layer thickness amounts to less than 1µm (thickness of a
human hair: 50-100 µm), so the production costs are lower due to the low material costs.
However, the efficiency of amorphous cells is much lower than that of the other two cell
types. Because of this, they are primarily used in low power equipment (watches, pocket
calculators) or as facade elements.

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 Table 2.1 (Different Type of Materials for Solar Cell & Their Efficiency)

Material Level of efficiency in % Lab Level of efficiency in %

Production
Monocrystalline Silicon approx. 24 14 to17
Polycrystalline Silicon approx. 18 13 to15
Amorphous Silicon approx. 13 5 to7

Figure 2.1 (Monocrystalline Silicon)

Figure 2.2 (Polycrystalline Silicon)

Figure 2.3 (Amorphous Silicon)

2.3 Solar cell structure

The most semiconductor material currently use for solar cell production is silicon, which has
some advantages as; it can be easily found in nature, does not pollute, does not harm the
environment and it can be easily melted, handled and formed into monocrystalline silicon
form, etc. The commonly solar cell is configured as a large-area p-n junction made from
silicon.

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2.4 How solar cell works?

Figure 2.4 (Working of Solar Cell)

When sunlight strikes solar cell surface, the cell creates charge carrier as electrons and holes.
The internal field produced by junction separates some of positive charges (holes) from
negative charges (electrons). Holes are swept into positive or p-layer and electrons are swept
into negative or n-layer. When a circuit is made, free electrons have to pass through the load to
recombine with positive holes; current can be produced from the cells under illumination.

The individual solar cells are connected together to make a module (called 'solar module' or
'PV module') to increase current and the modules are connected in an array (called 'solar array'
or 'PV array'). Depending on current or voltage requirement, solar arrays are connected in a
variety of ways:

(a) If the solar arrays are connected in parallel, the output current will increase.
(b) If the solar arrays are connected in series, the output voltage will increase.

2.5 Characteristic of Solar Cell

The usable voltage from solar cells depends on the semiconductor material. In silicon it
amounts to approximately 0.5 V. Terminal voltage is only weakly dependent on light
radiation, while the current intensity increases with higher luminosity. A 100 cm² silicon cell,
for example, reaches a maximum current intensity of approximately 2 A when radiated by
1000 W/m².

The output (product of electricity and voltage) of a solar cell is temperature dependent. Higher
cell temperatures lead to lower output, and hence to lower efficiency. The level of efficiency
indicates how much of the radiated quantity of light is converted into useable electrical energy.

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 Figure 2.5 (V-I Characteristics of Silicon Solar Cell)

2.6 From the Cell to the Module

In order to make the appropriate voltages and outputs available for different applications,
single solar cells are interconnected to form larger units. Cells connected in series have a
higher voltage, while those connected in parallel produce more electric current. The
interconnected solar cells are usually embedded in transparent Ethyl-Vinyl-Acetate, fitted with
an aluminum or stainless steel frame and covered with transparent glass on the front side.

The typical power ratings of such solar modules are between 10 Wpeak and 100 Wpeak. The
characteristic data refer to the standard test conditions of 1000 W/m² solar radiation at a cell
temperature of 25° Celsius. The manufacturer's standard warranty of ten or more years is quite
long and shows the high quality standards and life expectancy of today's products.

Figure 2.6 (Cell, Module Array)

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2.7 Natural Limits of Efficiency

In addition to optimizing the production processes, work is also being done to increase the
level of efficiency, in order to lower the costs of solar cells. However, different loss
mechanisms are setting limits on these plans. Basically, the different semiconductor materials
or combinations are suited only for specific spectral ranges. Therefore a specific portion of the
radiant energy cannot be used, because the light quanta (photons) do not have enough energy
to "activate" the charge carriers. On the other hand, a certain amount of surplus photon energy
is transformed into heat rather than into electrical energy. In addition to that, there are optical
losses, such as the shadowing of the cell surface through contact with the glass surface or
reflection of incoming rays on the cell surface. Other loss mechanisms are electrical resistance
losses in the semiconductor and the connecting cable. The disrupting influence of material
contamination, surface effects and crystal defects, however, are also significant.
Single loss mechanisms (photons with too little energy are not absorbed, surplus photon
energy is transformed into heat) cannot be further improved because of inherent physical
limits imposed by the materials themselves. This leads to a theoretical maximum level of
efficiency, i.e. approximately 28% for crystal silicon.

Figure 2.7 (Theoretical Maximum Levels of Efficiency of Various Solar Cells at Standard
Conditions)
2.8 Solar PV system

Solar cells produce direct current (DC), therefore they are only used for DC equipment. If
alternating current (AC) is needed for AC equipment or backup energy is needed, solar
photovoltaic systems require other components in addition to solar modules. These
components are specially designed to integrate into solar PV system, that is to say they are
renewable energy products or energy conservation products and one or more of components
may be included depending on type of application. The components of solar photovoltaic
system are

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 Figure 2.8 (Simple Solar PV System Arrangement)

1. Solar Module is the essential component of any solar PV system that converts sunlight
directly into DC electricity.
2. Solar Charge Controller regulates voltage and current from solar arrays, charges the
battery, prevents battery from overcharging and also performs controlled over discharges.
3. Battery stores current electricity that produces from solar arrays for using when sunlight is
not visible, nighttime or other purposes.
4. Inverter is a critical component of any solar PV system that converts DC power output of
solar arrays into AC for AC appliances.
5. Lightning protection prevents electrical equipment from damages caused by lightning or
induction of high voltage surge. It is required for the large size and critical solar PV systems,
which include the efficient grounding.

2.9 Solar cell advantages

Solar cell or PV cell produces clean with non-polluting energy source of electricity that is
environmental-friendly. Since it uses no fuel other than sunlight, gives off no waste, no
burning, and no moving part when it operates. It reduces collection of gases such as carbon
monoxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrocarbon and nitrogen, etc., which generated from fuel, coal and
fossil fuel burning power plants. All decrease the impacts of energy on the environment like
greenhouse effect, global warming, acid rain and air pollution, etc. It is easy to install and
transportable. With the modular characteristic, it can be constructed any sizes as required.
Moreover, it requires minimal maintenance and has long life span (more than 30 years) and
stable efficiency.

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2.10 Solar cell applications

Home Indoor and outdoor lighting system, electrical equipment, electric gate
opener, security system, ventilator, water pump, water filter and
emergency light, etc.
Lighting system Bus stop lighting, telephone booth lighting, billboard lighting, parking
lot lighting, indoor and outdoor lighting and street lighting, etc.
Water pumping Consumption, public utility, livestock watering, agriculture, gardening
and farming, mining and irrigation, etc.
Battery charging Emergency power system, battery charging center for rural village and
system power supply for household use and lighting in remote area, etc.
Agriculture Water pumping, agricultural products fumigator, thrashing machines
and water sprayer, etc.
Cattle Water pumping, oxygen filling system for fish-farming and insect
trapped lighting, etc.
Health center Refrigerator and cool box for keeping medicines and vaccines and
medical equipment, etc.
Communication Air navigational aid, air warning light, lighthouse, beacon navigation
aid, illuminated road sign, railway crossing sign, street lighting and
emergency telephone, etc.
Telecommunication Microwave repeater station, telecommunication equipment, portable
communication equipment (e.g. communication radio for service and
military exercise) and weather monitoring station, etc.
Remote area Hill, island, forest and remote area that the utility grids are not available,
etc.
Space Satellite, international space station and spacecraft, etc.

Table 2.2 (Solar Cell Applications)

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 CHAPTER 3

HOT SOLAR CELL

Hot solar cell works on the same basic foundation of converting sunlight into electricity with a
little twist. By first turning sunlight into heat, and then converting it back into light, solar cell
efficiency skyrockets. It’s work on Absorber-Emitter theory.

3.1 Absorber-Emitter

The key step in creating the device was the development of something called an absorber -
emitter. It essentially acts as a light funnel above the solar cells.
The absorbing layer is built from solid black carbon nanotubes that capture all the energy
from sunlight, regardless of frequency or angle of incidence and convert most of it into
heat. The British tech company Surrey Nanosystems says that it developed the world's
blackest material (Vantablack), which is made of carbon nanotubes. It can absorb 99.96
percent of light that hits it.

Figure 3.1 (Paint vs Vantablack)

As temperatures reach around 1,000 °C, the adjacent emitting layer radiates that energy back
out as light, now mostly narrowed to bands that the photovoltaic cells can absorb.
The emitter is made from a photonic crystal, a structure that can be designed at the nanoscale
to control, which wavelengths of light flow through it. Photonic crystals are intermittent
nanostructures that are designed to affect the motion of photons by defining both acceptable
and prohibited electronic energy bands. Generally, photonic crystals are composed of
recurring dielectric, or metallo - dielectric nanostructures, which have alternative lower and
higher dielectric constant materials in one, two and three dimensions to influence the spread of
electromagnetic waves inside the structure. As a result, the transmission of light is absolutely
zero in certain frequency ranges which is known as Photonic Band Gap.

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3.2 Classification of Photonic crystals

Photonic crystals are classified into three categories according to the nature of structure
periodicity.

1. One Dimension (1D),

2. Two Dimension (2D),
3. Three Dimension (3D).

 In 1D photonic crystals, the refractive index variations is periodic in one direction and
are uniform for the other two directions of the structure.
 In 2D photonic crystals, the refractive index variations are periodic in two directions
and homogeneous in third direction of the structure. In it the photonic band gap occurs
when the lattice has sufficiently larger index contrast.
 A 3D photonic crystal is a dielectric structure, which has periodic modulation along
three different axes, provided that the conditions of sufficiently high dielectric contrast
and suitable periodicity are met. A photonic band gap appears in all directions. Thus,
3D Photonic Band Gaps, unlike the 1D and 2D ones, can reflect light incident from any
direction.

Figure 3.2 (1D, 2D, 3D Photonic Crystals)

3.3 Photon Recycling

Another critical advance was the addition of a highly specialized optical filter that transmits
the tailored light while reflecting nearly all the unusable photons back. This “photon
recycling” produces more heat, which generates more of the light that the solar cell can
absorb, improving the efficiency of the system.
There are some downsides to the MIT team’s approach, including the relatively high cost of
certain components. It also currently works only in a vacuum.

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Figure 3.3 (Black carbon nanotubes sit on top of the absorber-emitter layer, collecting energy
across the solar spectrum and converting it to heat.)

Figure 3.4 (The absorber-emitter layer is situated above an optical filter and photovoltaic cell)

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Figure 3.5 (Concentrated light from a solar simulator shines through the window of a vacuum
chamber, where it reaches the solar TPV device and generates electricity)

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 CHAPTER 4

ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES

 Advantage
 It’s theoretical efficiency approximately double of the conventional
solar cell.
 Heat is easier to store than electricity.
 So, it is used to produce electricity even when the sun isn’t shining.
 Disadvantage
 Cost of certain components are relatively high.
 It also currently works only in a vacuum.

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 CHAPTER 5

FUTURE PREDICTION
 The researchers are also exploring ways to take advantage of another strength
of solar thermophotovoltaics.
 Because heat is easier to store than electricity, it should be possible to divert
excess amounts generated by the device to a thermal storage system, which
could then be used to produce electricity even when the sun isn’t shining.
 If the researchers can incorporate a storage device and ratchet up efficiency
levels, the system could one day deliver clean, cheap and continuous solar
power.

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 APPENDIX – A

KEY PLAYER

 David Bierman, Marin Soljacic, and Evelyn Wang, MIT

 Vladimir Shalaev, Purdue University
 Andrej Lenert, University of Michigan
 Ivan Celanovic, MIT

APPENDIX – B

REFERENCES

 https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603497/10-breakthrough-technologies-2017-hot-
solar-cells/
 https://www.altenergymag.com/article/2018/01/what-are-hot-solar-cells/27806/
 http://news.mit.edu/2016/hot-new-solar-cell-0523
 https://www.autodesk.com/products/eagle/blog/hot-solar-cell-technology/
 https://launchforth.io/blog/post/engineering-breakthrough-spotlight-hot-solar-cells/2379/
 http://www.leonics.com/support/article2_13j/articles2_13j_en.php
 https://www.solarserver.com/knowledge/basic-knowledge/photovoltaics.html
 https://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/old/1448.pdf
 https://rgsenergy.com/how-solar-panels-work/the-basics-of-solar-power/
 http://www.samlexsolar.com/learning-center/solar-cell-module-array.aspx
 https://pveducation.com/solar-concepts/solar-cells-modules-arrays/

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