Solar cells are key devices and components used to convert solar energy into electrical energy in solar photovoltaic systems. For over a hundred years, people have been dedicated to researching solar cells, exploring many different types of solar cells from various aspects such as materials, structures, uses, and forms.
To distinguish the various types of solar cells, we use a basic method of material differentiation for classification. For example, using compound materials and cinnamon materials as the basic distinguishing criteria. Silicon solar cells can be subdivided into monocrystalline silicon solar cells, polycrystalline silicon solar cells, amorphous silicon solar cells, microcrystalline silicon solar cells, HIT solar cells, and double-sided solar cells. If the compound form is used as the basis for differentiation, solar cells can be divided into two forms: single crystal compounds and polycrystalline compounds. If the structure is used as a basis for differentiation, solar cells can be divided into four types of structures: homogeneous junction type, heterojunction type, Schottky junction type, and composite junction type. In addition, if the purpose of solar cells is used as a basis for differentiation, they can be divided into three major types: space type, ground type, and photosensitive sensor type.
(1) Silicon solar cells
This type of solar cell uses silicon as the basic material and is currently the most commonly used type of solar cell. Due to the early development of monocrystalline silicon solar cells, the technology and other aspects are also relatively comprehensive. This type of solar cell has reliable performance and excellent conversion efficiency. Currently, the conversion efficiency of monocrystalline silicon solar cell products can approach 17% -19%. Compared with monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon has a relatively lower conversion rate, only reaching 15% -18%, except for producing single crystals made from high-purity silicon. The amorphous silicon solar cell uses a high-frequency glow discharge method to decompose and deposit silane gas. Its thickness is relatively low, not as much as one percent of that of crystalline silicon solar cells, and using amorphous silicon solar cells can greatly reduce production costs. However, its conversion efficiency is not very high and can only be maintained at around 14.6%. Due to the continuous maturity of technology and the gradual improvement of process level in recent years, the conversion efficiency of stacked solar cells has also reached 21%.
The thin-film solar cells that have emerged in recent years are mainly developed to improve efficiency and require higher stability. In 1996, Sanyo Electric Company of Japan began researching HIT solar cells, which have higher conversion efficiency and lower temperature coefficient than crystalline silicon solar cells. We will not provide detailed explanations here. In addition, in certain specific situations, double-sided solar cells may also be used, which can perform photoelectric conversion from the front and back sides, fully utilizing solar energy.
(2) Compound solar cells
Solar cells based on compound semiconductors are called compound solar cells, mainly composed of gallium arsenide and cadmium telluride. However, some of these raw materials have been banned due to their potential impact on the environment. Among them, gallium arsenide solar cells have a much higher conversion rate than non silicon solar cells, exceeding 16%. Due to the high conversion rate of compound solar cells, some countries have adopted special methods to solve environmental pollution problems. For example, First Solar in the United States has started producing a large number of cadmium telluride solar cells and providing components for the world’s largest solar photovoltaic power plant built in Germany.
Only by significantly improving the efficiency of solar energy usage in engineering applications can its practical value be reflected in practice. Thus achieving more efficient utilization of new energy sources such as solar energy by people. Improving the utilization efficiency of solar energy brings many benefits to the power system, which is reflected in the practical engineering practice of greatly reducing the cost of power generation, thereby bringing rich profits to power generation enterprises. In the process of exploring solar power generation research experiments, objective factors such as environment and location often have a serious impact, making it difficult to find an ideal experimental environment, and the testing process of research algorithms for solar photovoltaic power generation is difficult to achieve. This also brings certain difficulties to the algorithm research of solar photovoltaic power generation. To overcome such problems, it is necessary to refer to more data foundations in the simulation process of solar photovoltaic array experiments. Usually, we use PSCAD simulation software to build a power generation model, and through simulation experiments, we discover and study the changes in the characteristics of solar photovoltaic power generation in different environments.