Toward Cost-Effective Solar Energy Use
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Citations
Solar Water Splitting Cells
Benchmarking Heterogeneous Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction
For the Bright Future—Bulk Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells with Power Conversion Efficiency of 7.4%
Coaxial silicon nanowires as solar cells and nanoelectronic power sources
Benchmarking Hydrogen Evolving Reaction and Oxygen Evolving Reaction Electrocatalysts for Solar Water Splitting Devices
References
Polymer photovoltaic cells : enhanced efficiencies via a network of internal donor-acceptor heterojunctions
Photoelectrochemical cells : Materials for clean energy
Comparison of the device physics principles of planar and radial p-n junction nanorod solar cells
Advanced Technology Paths to Global Climate Stability: Energy for a Greenhouse Planet
Third generation photovoltaics : advanced solar energy conversion
Related Papers (5)
Electrochemical Photolysis of Water at a Semiconductor Electrode
A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films
Powering the planet: Chemical challenges in solar energy utilization
Frequently Asked Questions (22)
Q2. What factors have played a role in reviving interest in renewable resources?
Economic and geopolitical factors (high oil prices, environmental concerns, and supply instability) have certainly played a role in reviving interest in renewable resources.
Q3. What is the way to store solar energy?
Batteries are a natural approach to electricity storage, but for battery storage to be cost-effective over the 30-year amortized lifetime of a PV system, enormous quantities of batteries would have to be hooked up to the grid, and they would have to cost as little as lead-acid batteries while providing the cycle life of lithium-ion batteries.
Q4. How many losses have been observed in small test cells?
Small test cells have demonstrated efficiencies of >20%, with the remaining losses almost en-tirely due to small reflection losses, grid shading losses, and other losses at the 5 to 10% level that any practical system will have to some extent.
Q5. How many efficiencies are shown in small-scale solar cells?
Small “champion” dye-sensitized solar cells have shown efficiencies as high as 10 to 11%, although at present large-area devices typically have efficiencies of <5%.
Q6. What is the attractive method for storing electrical energy in chemical bonds?
One approach to storing electrical energy in chemical bonds is through electrolysis, in which water is split into H2 and O2 in an electrolyzer.
Q7. What is the important aspect of the solar power debate?
The lack of cost-effective large-scale electrical storage capacity on Earth underlies the call for development of space-based solar power systems.
Q8. What is the attractive method for costeffective massive energy storage?
Perhaps the most attractive method for costeffective massive energy storage is in the form of chemical bonds (i.e., chemical fuel).
Q9. What is the current state of solar energy?
With increasing attention toward carbon-neutral energy production, solar electricity—or photovoltaic (PV) technology—is receiving heightened attention as a potentially widespread approach to sustainable energy production.
Q10. What is the way to improve the efficiency of solar cells?
Improvements in the efficiency of such systemswill require improveddyes, better electrolytes, and better control over the recombination at the interfacial contact area that currently limits the voltage produced by such systems to about 50 to 60% of its theoretical value.
Q11. What are the main reasons for the increase in interest in biofuels?
Economic and geopolitical factors (high oil prices, environmental concerns, and supply instability) have been prompting policy-makers to put added emphasis on renewable energy sources.
Q12. What is the energy conversion efficiency of a solar module?
Because the total energy provided by the Sun is fixed over the 30- year lifetime of a PV module, once the energy conversion efficiency of a PV module is established, the total amount of “product” electricity produced by the module at a representative midlatitude location is known for the lifetime of the system.
Q13. What is the theoretical efficiency limit for a solar conversion device?
The theoretical efficiency limit for even an optimal single–band gap solar conversion device is 31%, because photons having energies lower than the absorption threshold of the active PV material are not absorbed, whereas photons having energies much higher than the band gap rapidly release heat to the lattice of the solid and therefore ultimately contain only a useful internal energy equal to that of the band gap (2).
Q14. What is the process of converting cellulosic biomass into biofuels?
After harvest, biomass is reduced in size and then treated to loosen up the lignin-cellulose fiber entanglement in a step that can take from a few minutes to many hours.
Q15. What is the way to use solar cells?
Although there is tremendous potential for growth for PV in electricity generation, solar electricity can never be a material contributor to primary energy generation without cost-effective methods for storing and distributing massive quantities of electricity (2, 3, 12).
Q16. What is the cost of the Si-based solar cells?
Some of the Si is lost in cutting up boules into wafers, and other costs are incurred in polishing the wafers, making the diffused junction in the Si into a photovoltaic device, fabricating the conducting transparent glass, masking and making the electrical contacts, sealing the cells, connecting the cells together reliably into a module, and sealing the module for shipment.
Q17. What are the main constraints on the commercial potential of biofuels?
to first order, land-related constraints dominate the ultimate commercial potential of biofuels as9 FEBRUARY 2007 VOL 315 SCIENCE www.sciencemag.org800Sustainability and Energyo nF ebru ary 9,2 00 7 w w w .s ci en ce m ag .o rgD ownl oade dfr ommaterial contributors to primary energy supply, whereas cost-related constraints dominate the ultimate commercial potential of PV-derived solar energy conversion and storage systems.
Q18. What is the purpose of the SSF stage?
cellulose hydrolysis and fermentation are combined in a single unit, termed the simultaneous saccharification fermentation (SSF) stage.
Q19. How much of the cost of the Si-based solar cells is it?
In current manufacturing schemes for Sibased solar cells, the cost of the processed and purified Si is only about 10% of the final cost of the PV module.
Q20. How long will it take to produce biofuels?
There is justified optimism that the full potential of biofuel production from cellulosic biomass will be obtainable in the next 10 to 15 years.
Q21. What is the difference between a high-aspect ratio nanorod and a low-?
High– aspect ratio nanorods, for example, can provide a long dimension for light absorption while requiring only that carriers move radially, along the short dimension of the nanorod, to be separated by the metallurgical junction and collected as electricity (Fig. 3) (2, 7).
Q22. What is the cost of Pt-based electrolysis?
Pt-based electrolysis in acidic or neutral media is expensive and unlikely to be scalable to the levels that would be required for this process to be material in global primary energy production.