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The Math Behind... Solar Cell Design: Apply It

Carbon-based solar cells have the potential for lower costs than traditional solar cells but currently have low energy conversion efficiency around 8%. Improving the efficiency could enable much wider use of carbon-based solar power. Carbon-based solar cells have four parts: transparent top electrode, bottom electrode creating an electric field, donor material that absorbs light and creates excitons, and acceptor material where excitons split into charges. The cell's physical structure most influences efficiency by affecting light absorption, exciton generation, and charge collection. Optimization requires calculating the electrical field distribution using Maxwell's equations and computer simulation to identify efficiency improvements.

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Kabeed Mansur
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113 views1 page

The Math Behind... Solar Cell Design: Apply It

Carbon-based solar cells have the potential for lower costs than traditional solar cells but currently have low energy conversion efficiency around 8%. Improving the efficiency could enable much wider use of carbon-based solar power. Carbon-based solar cells have four parts: transparent top electrode, bottom electrode creating an electric field, donor material that absorbs light and creates excitons, and acceptor material where excitons split into charges. The cell's physical structure most influences efficiency by affecting light absorption, exciton generation, and charge collection. Optimization requires calculating the electrical field distribution using Maxwell's equations and computer simulation to identify efficiency improvements.

Uploaded by

Kabeed Mansur
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Math Matters

Apply It.

The math behind...


Solar Cell Design

Technical
terms used:
electrode, exciton, electrodynamics, Maxwells equations, finite difference time domain numerical method
Uses
and applications:
Carbon-based solar cells have much lower materials and manufacturing costs than the alternative. However, their
energy conversion efficiency is only about 8%, which is poor compared to a rate of about 40% for other, more
expensive solar devices. If the efficiency can be improved, the use of carbon-based solar power can be greatly
increased, more cheaply and innovatively.

How
it works:
There are four basic parts to a carbon-based solar cell. On top there is a clear electrode for light to pass through.
The bottom is also an electrode; this creates an electric field inside the device. The middle consists of two layers,
called donor material and acceptor material. The donor material is where light energy is absorbed and converted
to charge carriers called excitons. Some excitons may travel to the acceptor material, where they can split into one
positively and one negatively charged particle (charges). The charges are attracted to their respective electrode due
to the electric field, where they are collected for use.
The efficiency of a solar cell is influenced by many factors, but the physical structure of the device has the strongest
effect on its performance. We want to maximize the amount of energy collected. This involves absorption of light
energy, conversion of energy to charge carriers, and collection of charges.
Absorption of light energy happens only in the donor material, and is related to the distribution of light throughout
the device. Exciton generation is directly dependent on the electrical field distribution, and excitons tend to split
mainly at the interface between the donor and acceptor material. All of these factors are affected by the physical
structure of the device; therefore, the design of the solar cell has the largest impact on its efficiency.
To optimize a solar cell, we need to calculate the electrical field distribution inside the device. In the study of
electrodynamics, the electrical field is described by Maxwells equations. A mathematician can use a computer
simulation to send an electromagnetic wave through the proposed device and measure the results. These results
are plugged into Maxwells equations, which are solved using a Finite Difference Time Domain numerical method.
The results indicate the efficiency of the solar cell, which are used to optimize the design.

Interesting fact:
Because of the materials used, carbon-based solar cells can be manufactured on low-cost, flexible sheets. These can
be utilized to cover any structure and be replaced cheaply and easily if damaged. In addition, the sheets could
easily be colored and patterned for aesthetics.

References:

J. Wang, W. Cheng-Wei, L. Yan, and L. Wei-Min. The structure optimization design of the organic solar cells using the fdtd
method. Physica B, 405:2061-2064,2010.
A. McNamara, J. Sneering, Y. Zeng. Model and Optimization of Organic Photovoltaic Cells. Institute for Mathematics and Its
Applications, IMA Preprint Series 2271, 2009.
V. Robbiano. Simulations of organic solar cells with an event-driven monte carlo algorithm. Masters Thesis, The University of
Akron, Akron, Ohio. August, 2011.
M. Ghamande. Optical Modeling of Organic Photovoltaic Cells. Masters Thesis, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio. August,
2011.
Submitted by Daniel Rhoads, The University of Akron, USA
Second place, Math Matters, Apply it! contest, February 2014

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics


www.siam.org/careers/matters.php

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