Comparative Analysis of PV Module Efficiency for

Different Types of Silicon Materials Considering the

Effects of Environmental Parameters
Md Faysal Nayan1, S.M.Safayet Ullah2, S. N. Saif3
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh
1
faysal.nayan@gmail.com, 3aabeersaif@gmail.com
Department of Natural Sciences, Daffodil International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2
s.m.safayet.ullah@gmail.com

Abstract— To meet the energy demand, solar photovoltaic has
already emerged as a convincing renewable energy technology.
Solar Photovoltaic (PV) modules are one of the most effective,
sustainable, and eco-friendly systems in recent world. Different
types of PV solar technologies like Mono crystalline silicon, poly
crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, thin film are the most
popular technologies to produce electricity. Their module
performance and efficiency depend on the electrical and
environment parameters of the PV materials. This paper
presents some theoretical evaluations for variation in the
efficiency of energy for different types of photovoltaic (PV)
module under changes of environmental parameters. A proper
comparison is developed among the mono-crystalline,
polycrystalline and amorphous material using the model
parameters. This work also illustrates the variation of fill factor
and efficiency of a specific photovoltaic module under real
operating conditions. MATLAB is used to investigate the P-V
characteristics to evaluate the maximum power point of solar
photovoltaic cell considering the effect of temperature and solar
radiation.
Keywords-Solar cell; solar radiation; PV array; temperature;
amorphous; mathematical model; maximum power point;
crystalline; fill factor; efficiency
Mono-crystalline solar panels known for higher efficiency,
space efficient and longevity but this technology is most
expensive [9]. Now a days Poly-crystalline solar panels have
lower efficiency but this technology is cost effective and most
popular. Solar thin film technologies based on amorphous
silicon is now a major research topic. Though their efficiency
is not good as mono-crystalline and poly-crystalline silicon
technology, their mass production is simple and high
temperatures and shading have less impact on their
performance. However, performances of these type of
modules depend on various types of electrical and
environmental parameters.
In this paper, our study mainly focuses on analysing three-
type PV materials [5-7]. To this aim, three different PV
systems consisting of mono-crystalline, poly-crystalline and
amorphous silicon materials were considered to make a
comparison in terms of the efficiency [5]. Environmental
parameters including solar radiation and temperature are
varied to observe the characteristics of different Si based solar
PV technologies under different circumstances.

I. INTRODUCTION
Now a day’s energy shortage is worldwide concern issue. In
order to overcome the obstacles of energy crisis, the sources of
renewable energy have become a major issue in the recent
years [1]. Renewable energy is used to generate electrical
power from the solar energy using the concept of Photovoltaic
(PV). It has come into view for its great advantages and less
maintenance [2-3].
Among the solar technology, the photovoltaic array (PV)
has been making a positive attention due to its capability of
energy conversion without intermediate thermal process ( [4]- Figure 1: Different silicon technologies
[6]). If the solar energy is used in right track, it can meet the
need of having sufficient energy of the world ([1],[7- II. PHYSICS OF SOLAR CELL
9]).Photovoltaic solar cell systems always shows non-linear
voltage current relationship which varies with different types Photovoltaic systems (PV) are made from semi conducting
of environmental and electrical parameters [1]. materials and convert photon energy into electricity. When
Most commonly used materials for Photovoltaic energy sufficient amount of sunlight reaches these materials, photons
conversion are mono-crystalline, poly-crystalline silicon, with a specific wavelength trigger electrons to flow through
amorphous silicon and thin Film technologies. Silicon the materials to produce direct current (DC) electricity
crystalline have different types of structure’s such as single ([5],[10-14]). Most importantly, semiconductor materials are
crystalline silicon, multi- crystalline silicon and ribbon cast used to make the solar panels and among these materials,
multi-crystalline silicon [8]. silicon is generally used. In order to achieve higher output

978-1-5090-2906-8/16/$31.00©2016 IEEE
iCEEiCT 2016
voltage, solar cells are connected in series along with the Applying the KCL on the equivalent circuit, we can write
parallel connection for producing higher output current ([1- the equation of photocurrent which is given in equation (1).
4],[11-17]).
I ph = I D + I sh + I (1)
Photovoltaic cells are generally connected in series
configuration to form a PV module. The modules can be In this equation, ph is Photo current generated in PV cell
arranged to form large PV panel. Panels can be grouped to which depends on the solar radiation (G). ID and Ish are Diode
form large photovoltaic arrays [18-22]. The operating current and hunt current respectively.I represent the Load
principle of solar cell may be described from a PN junction current of the solar cell ([1],[11]-[17], [23-24]).
where there are drift and diffusion currents for forward and
reverse polarization. The influence of electric fields separates Semiconductor diode is a nonlinear device and the basic
these carriers within the junction. As a result, a current is fundamental characteristic of semiconductor diode is defined
produced which is proportional to solar irradiation incidence by the following exponential equation ([1], [24]).
[7,10, 11].  V  
I D = I S  exp  D  − 1 (2)
  VT  
Here, ID and VD represent the diode current and voltage across
the semiconductor diode. IS signifies Temperature dependent
reverse saturation current and VT is Thermal voltage which
depends on reference temperature (TC) and ideality factor of
diode (n).
nkTC
VT = (3)
q
Here, n= Diode ideality factor,
k = Boltzmann constant (1.3806503 × 10-23 J/K)
q = charge on electron (1.602× 10 -19 C)
If we operate the semiconductor diode in reverse bias region
Figure 2.Physics of solar cell in terms of band theory. then reverse saturation current will be ISO.
I SC
I SO = (4)
VOC
III. MODELING OF PHOTOVOLTAIC ARRAY [exp( ) − 1]
N S VT
Solar cell is one kind of device that is fabricated in a thin
layer of semiconductor. A typical solar cell device converts Where,Voc is Open circuit voltage per cell in Volt ,Iso is Diode
light energy into electrical energy ([14]-[18]). reverse saturation current, Isc means Short circuit current per
cell at reference temperature and solar radiation.
A. Equivalent circuit of solar cell
Ns and Np represent the Number of solar cell connected in
To analysis the characteristics of different types solar cell series and Number of solar cell connected in parallel
materials we have considered a single diode model equivalent respectively.
circuit (Figure 3) to implement a solar cell model. We have The following equation represents temperature dependence of
derive the equations of output voltage, output current, Fill diode the saturation current([1],[11]-[17], [23-24]).
factor (FF) and Efficiency (Ef) in terms of various parameters
([1],( [12],[17]-[19]). TO 3 qEg 1 1
I S = I SO ( ) * exp[ ( − )] (5)
TC kn TO TC
Photo current generated in PV cell mainly depends on solar
radiation and temperature. The value of Photocurrent is
linearly proportional to the amount of solar radiation.
The equation of photo current based on temperature and solar
radiation is represented by the equation (6) ([1],[11]-[17], [23-
24]).
G
Figure 3.Equivalent circuit of solar cell
I Ph = [ I SC + K SC (TC − TO )]*( ) (6)
GS
We can write the equation of load current from basic
B. Fundamental Mathematical equations of Solar Cell
equation as follows:
The basic equations that represent the operating principle of V + IRS V + IRS
solar cell is based on the equivalent circuit are given below I = I Ph − I S [exp( ) − 1] − (7)
([1],[11]-[17], [23-24]). VT RSh
 q V V Table (II-VII) provides the relevant statistics based on
I = N P I Ph − I S (exp[( )( )] − 1) − (8) maximum power, fill factor and efficiency of Mono-crystalline,
nkTO N S RSh
Polycrystalline and Amorphous based solar cells respectively.
Where,Ksc is Short circuit current temperature coefficient and
Eg represent the Band gap energy of crystalline material in eV. A. Variation of Efficiency of Different Types of
Materials due to change of Solar Radiation
Rs=series resistance of the cell that represents the internal
losses of solar cell and Rsh is Shunt resistance of the cell which Table (II-IV) presents the variation of efficiency due to change
is parallel with the diode that takes the leakage current to the of solar radiation.
ground.
1) Variation of Efficiency of Monocrystalline due
GS and Gis solar radiation at standard test condition and to change of Solar Radiation
operating Radiation condition respectively.
TABLE II. SIMULATION RESULT FOR MONOCRYSTALLINE DUE TO CHANGE
Tc is standard test condition temperature and T0is operating cell OF SOLAR RADAIATION
temperature.
G Pm Vm FF Efficiency
Efficiency in photovoltaic solar panels is measured by the 200 35.5 36 0.150265 13.87772
ability of a panel to convert sunlight energy into DC energy 400 73.84 38 0.31255 14.43282
output. Basic equation of Fill Factor (FF)and Efficiency (Ef) is 600 113.7 38 0.48127 14.81593
given below ([1],[11]-[17], [23-24]). 800 154.3 39 0.653122 15.0798
1000 195.3 39 0.826667 15.2694
Vm I m (9)
FF =
V oc I oc
2) Variation of Efficiency of Polycrystalline due
P to change of Solar Radiation
E f = m ax
Pin (10) TABLE III. SIMULATION RESULT FOR POLYCRYSTALLINE DUE TO CHANGE
OF SOLAR RADAIATION
Where, maximum Power, Pmax = Vm I m (11)
G Pm V FF Efficiency
In this paper we used MATLAB software to investigate the 200 28.57 31 0.120931 11.16863
maximum power point, fill factor and efficiency in different 400 62.53 33 0.264677 12.22216
types of condition temperature and solar radiation. To perform 600 98.37 35 0.416381 12.81832
this analysis we have use the data list of table 1. These data 800 135.3 36 0.572698 13.22292
are based on 180W ZED fabric mono-crystalline PV solar 1000 173.1 37 0.732698 13.5337
panel [25].
3) Variation of Efficiency of Amorphous due to
TABLE I change of Solar Radiation
PARAMETERS OF ZED FABRIC PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR
TABLE IV. SIMULATION RESULT FOR AMORPHOUS DUE TO CHANGE OF
Parameters Type/Value SOLAR RADAIATION
Cell Technology Si crystalline
G Pm V FF Efficiency
Number of cells in series 72
200 30.57 33 0.129397 11.95047
Open circuit voltage (Total) 45 Volt 400 66 35 0.279365 12.90041
Short circuit current (Total) 5.25 Ampere 600 103 36 0.435979 13.42164
Voltage at maximum power 36.31 volt 800 141 36 0.596825 13.77998
1000 179.9 37 0.761481 14.06536
Current at maximum power 4.98 ampere
Maximum system voltage 1000 volt
Maximum power 180 watt
Temperature coefficient .0023 V/0Celsius
Saturation current 1.6595 nA
Temperature range -400C to 800C
Cell efficiency 15.2%
Module efficiency 15%
Standard test temperature 250C
Standard test radiation 1000 w/m2

IV. COMPARISON OF EFFICIENCY BETWEEN DIFFERENT

TYPES OF CRYSTALLINE MATERIAL

Efficiency of a solar cell depends on the spectrum and intensity

of the incident sunlight and the temperature of the solar cell. Figure 4. Efficiency of solar cell due to variation of Solar Radiation
Figure 4 demonstrate the variation of solar efficiency by
increasing the solar radiation. It can be said that, Mono-
crystalline materials show maximum efficiency in standard
test condition of the solar model.
B. Variation of Efficiency of Different types of
Materials due to change of Temperature
Performance of different solar materials in terms of efficiency
due to the variation of temperature presents in table (V-VII).
1) Variation of Efficiency of Monocrystalline due to
change of Temperature
TABLE V. SIMULATION RESULT FOR MONOCRYSTALLINE DUE TO CHANGE
OF TEMPERATURE
As can be seen from the tables (II-VII) and figures (III-IV), it
can be clearly said that the maximum power (Pm) as well as
efficiency are decreased when temperature of the amorphous
cell is increased. However, not only the maximum power but
also the efficiency is climbed up with the rise of radiation of
the amorphous cell. Similarly, for Monocrystalline solar cell,
the maximum power (Pm) is decreased with the increasing of
temperature and simultaneously, the efficiency is reduced too.
On the other hand, both the maximum power (Pm) and
efficiency are hiked with the rise of the radiation.
Furthermore, for Polycrystalline solar cell, the increasing
growth of the maximum power (Pm) and efficiency can be
observed with the gradual improvement of radiation. But with
the gradual boom of the temperature, the maximum power
(Pm) and efficiency are both declined.

T Pm V FF Efficiency
0 170.7 43 0.72254 13.34606 V. P-V CHARACTERISCS OF MATERIALS DUE TO
20 157.4 40 0.666243 12.30621 VARIATION OF SOLAR RADIATION
40 144.2 37 0.61037 11.27418
60 131.2 33 0.555344 10.25778 A. P-V characteristics for monocrystalline
80 118.4 30 0.501164 9.257022

2) Variation of Efficiency of Polycrystalline due to

change of Temperature

TABLE VI. SIMULATION RESULT FOR POLYCRYSTALLINE DUE TO CHANGE

OF TEMPERATURE

T Pm V FF Ef
0 223.2 46 0.944762 17.45074
20 183.1 38 0.775026 14.31555
40 143.8 31 0.608677 11.2429
60 105.6 24 0.446984 8.256263
80 69.81 17 0.295492 5.458047

3) Variation of Efficiency of Amorphous due to change

of Temperature

TABLE VII. SIMULATION RESULT FOR AMORPHOUS DUE TO CHANGE OF

TEMPERATURE Figure 6. P-V Characteristics for mono-crystalline material due to
variation of solar radiation
T Pm V FF Efficiency
0 219 45 0.926984 17.12236
20 187.7 39 0.794497 14.6752 B. P-V characteristics for Polycrystalline
40 156.6 33 0.662857 12.24366
60 126.1 27 0.533757 9.859042
80 96.3 22 0.407619 7.529149

Figure 7.P-V Characteristics for Poly-crystalline material due to variation

Figure 5. Efficiency of solar cell due to variation of Temperature of solar radiation
 C. P-V characteristics for Amorphous
Figure 8.P-V Characteristics for amorphous material due to variation
of solar radiation
VI. P-V CHARACTERISCS OF MATERIALS DUE TO
VARIATION OF TEMPERATURE
A. P-V characteristics for monocrystalline
Figure 9.P-V Characteristics for mono-crystalline material due to variation of
Temperature
B. P-V characteristics for Polycrystalline
Figure 10.P-V Characteristics for poly-crystalline material due to variation of
Temperature
C. P-V characteristics for Amorphous
Figure 11.P-V Characteristics for amorphous material due to variation of
Temperature
VII. CONCLUSIONS
The next century will witness a productive insight in terms of
renewable energy sources, particularly solar energy and its
derivatives. This renewable and enormous energy source
offers a solution to the energy problem all over the world.
Smart Grid technology can be a proper solution for overcome
the power crisis problem. Renewable energy like solar energy
is an added advantage to the Smart Grid ([1],[5-6],[12-15],[26-
27]).
This paper investigated a specific PV model to observe the
performance the Photovoltaic solar cell under different
varying parameters such as solar radiation, ambient
temperature. In this paper, A MATLAB model for the solar
PV cell, modules and array was presented and analyzed
through simulations using MATLAB. This model used the
fundamental circuit equations of a solar PV cell taking into
account the effects of electrical and environmental parameters.
In our paper, we refer the temperature and solar radiation as
environmental parameters. Ideality factor, series and shunt
resistance, reverse saturation current considered as electrical
parameters. In this paper, we emphasized on the evaluation of
the effects ambient temperature and solar radiation on the
efficiency of the solar panels. We have considered the mono-
crystalline, Poly-crystalline and amorphous material for our
evaluation.
From the analysis throughout the paper, we can say that
performance of solar cell for any types of material depend on
the standard conditions of solar cell. But Monocrystalline
solar cell shows better performance than other type of
material. Now a days, Commercially available PV materials
are polycrystalline silicon, mono-crystalline silicon,
amorphous silicon, and thin film technologies, such as
cadmium telluride (CdTe), and copper indium diselenide
(CIS). As from discussion, Si solar cells demonstrate high
conversion efficiency, but in order to produce cheap and
efficient PV devices, research on a large number of different
thin film technologies is in progress.
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