Photoelectric effect and Heat in Solar PV

[Aalok]

Incident light on a PV cell generates both electricity and heat. That is because the incident light contains both visible and infrared light. If you can separate visible light and infrared light, and have only the visible light incident on the PV cell.

Would the PV cell generate heat, when it generates electricity?

Thanks in advance

 

[Bobbywhy]

No, the PV cell does not generate heat during the conversion of light to electrical energy.

 

[willem2]

Incident light on a PV cell generates both electricity and heat. That is because the incident light contains both visible and infrared light. If you can separate visible light and infrared light, and have only the visible light incident on the PV cell.

Would the PV cell generate heat, when it generates electricity?

Thanks in advance

There are 2 sources of heat. One source is the photons that do not have enough energy to create an electron-hole pair. You filtered those out.There are also photons with too much energy, and the extra energy will also get converted to heat. Only monochromatic light of exactly the right frequency would produce no waste heat.

 

[Bobbywhy]

Incident light on a PV cell generates both electricity and heat. That is because the incident light contains both visible and infrared light. If you can separate visible light and infrared light, and have only the visible light incident on the PV cell.

Would the PV cell generate heat, when it generates electricity?

Thanks in advance

“Much of the energy from sunlight reaching a PV cell is lost before it can be converted into electricity. But certain characteristics of solar cell materials also limit a cell's efficiency to convert the sunlight it receives.
Light is composed of photons—or packets of energy—that range in wavelength. When light strikes the surface of a solar cell, some photons are reflected and do not enter the cell. Other photons pass through the material. Of these, some are absorbed but only have enough energy to generate heat, and some have enough energy to separate electrons from their atomic bonds to produce charge carriers—negative electrons and positive holes (useful electrical energy).
Bandgap is the minimum amount of energy needed to free an electron from its bond, and this energy differs among semiconductor materials. The primary reason PV cells are not 100% efficient is because they cannot respond to the entire spectrum of sunlight. Photons with energy less than the material's bandgap are not absorbed, which wastes about 25% of incoming energy. The energy content of photons above the bandgap is wasted surplus—re-emitted as heat or light—and accounts for an additional loss of about 30%. Thus, the inefficient interactions of sunlight with cell material waste about 55% of the original energy.”
http://www.eere.energy.gov/basics/renewable_energy/pv_cell_conversion_efficiency.html

The efficiency of silicon PV cells decreases as the temperature increases. As the cell’s temperature increases quasiparticles, called phonons, are excited and move throughout the material, impeding the uniform movement of electrons. This impedance is what reduces efficiency.
Thin-film PV cells made from copper indium gallium selenide and cadmium telluride show great promise to increase overall efficiency. Two recent advances in PV technology are described here:

“Groningen, The Netherlands--Scientists from the University of Groningen and the FOM Foundation (Utrecht, The Netherlands) have learned how to harvest IR light by transmitting its energy to an up conversion material. This energy is then available for use in photovoltaic cells or for medical imaging.”
http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2012/07/ir-light-harvested-and-efficiently-upconverted-for-photovoltaic-uses.html

“New type of photovoltaic device harnesses heat radiation that most solar cells ignore”
June 21, 2012
Source: David Chandler, MIT News Office
“About 40 percent of the solar energy reaching Earth’s surface lies in the near-infrared region of the spectrum — energy that conventional silicon-based solar cells are unable to harness. But a new kind of all-carbon solar cell developed by MIT researchers could tap into that unused energy, opening up the possibility of combination solar cells — incorporating both traditional silicon-based cells and the new all-carbon cells — that could make use of almost the entire range of sunlight’s energy.”
http://www.pennenergy.com/index/pow...wable/2012/june/new-type_of_photovoltaic.html

 

[sardar]

!

The photoelectric effect is a phenomenon where the absorption of light by a material results in the emission of electrons, leading to the generation of electricity. In the case of solar PV cells, this effect is utilized to convert sunlight into electricity. However, as stated in the content, incident light on a PV cell also generates heat due to the presence of both visible and infrared light.

If only visible light is incident on the PV cell, it is likely that the cell would still generate some amount of heat. This is because visible light itself contains a small amount of infrared radiation, and this can contribute to the heating of the cell. Additionally, there may be other factors such as resistance within the cell that can also lead to the generation of heat.

However, it is possible to design PV cells that are more efficient at converting sunlight into electricity, and therefore generate less heat. This can be achieved by using materials with higher bandgaps, which are more efficient at converting photons into electrons. By optimizing the materials and design of the PV cell, it is possible to minimize the amount of heat generated while still producing a significant amount of electricity.

In conclusion, while the photoelectric effect is the main mechanism for generating electricity in solar PV cells, it is important to consider the heat generated as well. By designing more efficient cells, it is possible to reduce the amount of heat generated and increase the overall efficiency of the system.