History of photovoltaics
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The photovoltaic is the direct conversion of incident light into electrical energy (see. Solar energy ). The history of photovoltaics begins in 1839 when the underlying photoelectric effect was discovered by Alexandre Edmond Becquerel . However, it took more than a hundred years before it was used in energy supply.
The discovery
In 1839, Alexandre Edmond Becquerel (1820-1891) came across the photoelectric effect during experiments. In experiments with electrolytic cells in which it has a platinum - anode and - cathode used, he measured the current flowing between these electrodes. He found that the current in the light was slightly greater than in the dark. With this he discovered the basis of photovoltaics . However, it was not used in practice until generations later.
Basic research
In 1873, the British engineer Willoughby Smith and his assistant Joseph May discovered that selenium changed its electrical resistance when exposed to light . Willoughby Smith went public with this discovery, sparking further research on the subject.
In 1876, William Grylls Adams and his student Richard Evans Day discovered that selenium produces electricity when it is exposed to light. Although selenium is not suitable for providing enough electrical energy to supply the electrical components used at the time, this provided evidence that a solid can convert light directly into electrical energy without going through heat or kinetic energy . In 1883, the New Yorker Charles Fritts built a first module (the forerunner of the photovoltaic module ) from selenium cells . Only now was there fundamental work on the photoelectric effect , but many scientists of the time also had great doubts about the seriousness of this discovery. In 1884, Julius Elster (1854–1920) and Hans Friedrich Geitel (1855–1923) presented important works on the photoelectric effect (photoelectric effect). Heinrich Rudolph Hertz (1857-1894) also discovered the photoelectric effect in 1887, the detailed investigation of which he passed on to his student Wilhelm Hallwachs (1859-1922). In the same year and independently of Hallwachs, Augusto Righi (1850–1920) also discovered electron emission in the photoelectric effect. In honor of the findings of Hallwax, the photoelectric effect (also known as the external photoelectric effect) was previously also called the Hallwax effect . Also Philipp Eduard Anton Lenard (1862-1947) and Joseph John Thomson carried at the end of the 19th century further to the study of the photoelectric effect. In 1907 Albert Einstein provided a theoretical explanation of the photoelectric effect based on his light quantum hypothesis of 1905. For this he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 .
Robert Andrews Millikan (1868–1953) was able to experimentally confirm Einstein's ideas about the photoelectric effect in 1912–1916 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for it in 1923.
Another important step for the fundamentals of semiconductor technology and photovoltaics was the crystal pulling process that Jan Czochralski (1885–1953) discovered in 1916 in the AEG Berlin metal laboratory and named after him. It was only further developed in the 1940s and came into practical application in the 1950s with the increasing demand for semiconductor components on a larger scale.
Photovoltaic cells
In 1934, research was carried out on a thin solar cell that used copper (I) oxide , also known as cuprite or copper oxide, on the surface of a copper anode as a semiconductor . In order to divert the charge carriers from the oxide surface and to protect against environmental influences, the cathode consisted of a conductive and translucent copper film. The scientists assumed to eventually reach 26 watts per square meter horizontally installed solar array (86.3 MW per mi² ). Roofs made of solar cells and self-sufficient energy supplies ( island systems ) were already being considered as possible applications at the time , e.g. B. in airships . The undoped cell produces 12.5 mW / m². By doping the metal oxide and the much later developed field effect technology for solar cells (SFPV, developed 2012), the efficiency can be improved.
In 1940, Russell S. Ohl (1898–1987) unexpectedly found during experiments that the connected measuring device indicated a change when a silicon sample he was examining was illuminated. He noticed that lighting the silicon could generate a current. The results could be confirmed by further investigations. At Bell Laboratories , Ohl was also involved in the discovery of changing the electrical properties of semiconductors through targeted doping with foreign substances and thus creating a pn junction .
In 1948 the first concept of semiconductor photovoltaics with Schottky diodes came from Kurt Lehovec (1918–2012), and in 1950 William Bradford Shockley (1910–1989) created a theoretical model for the pn junction and thus created the basis for understanding today's solar cells .
The Bell Laboratories in New Jersey were one of the most active and successful research laboratories in the world during these years. In 1953, Daryl Chapin (1906–1995), Calvin Souther Fuller (1902–1994) and Gerald Pearson (1905–1987) produced crystalline silicon solar cells, each around 2 cm² in size, with efficiencies of over 4 percent. One cell even reached 6 percent efficiency - the results were presented to the public on April 25, 1954. The New York Times made the front page cover the next day. The solar cells had a defined pn junction and good contact options, which for the first time provided important prerequisites for industrial production. In 2002, a cell manufactured by Bell Laboratories in 1955, encapsulated and measured at 6 percent efficiency at the time, was measured again and still showed 5.1 percent efficiency. After further improvements, the efficiency of solar cells could be increased to up to 11 percent.
The first technical application was found in 1955 in the power supply of telephone amplifiers.
Applications in space
On March 17, 1958, when the USA had already successfully put a satellite into earth orbit after the Sputnik shock , the second US satellite named Vanguard I flew into space with a chemical battery and photovoltaic cells to operate a transmitter on board. After long hesitation on the part of the US Army, Hans Ziegler (1911–1999) was able to prevail with his idea that a power supply with solar cells would guarantee the operation of the transmitter longer than the use of batteries. Contrary to the expectations of the military, the transmitter's signals could be received until May 1964 before it ceased its signaling activity. Due to the long measurement duration, the mass distribution model of the earth could be corrected to a previously unattainable accuracy using the trajectory of Vanguard I, and it became clear that the earth is not exactly spherical.
The success of this small satellite and the scientists involved laid the foundation for the first sensible use of the previously almost unknown and above all very expensive solar cells. For many years, solar cells were developed primarily for space travel purposes, as they proved to be the ideal power supply for satellites and space probes up to a distance from Mars from the sun. The long service life of the spacecraft, compared to battery operation, far outweighed the still high price of solar cells per kilowatt hour . In addition, solar cells were and are cheaper and less risky than radioisotope generators , which allow similarly long operating times. Most spacecraft were and are therefore equipped with solar cells for energy supply.
In 2008, solar cells with increased efficiency delivered several kilowatts of power for communications satellites with over 30 transponders, each with about 150 watts of transmission power, or even provided the drive energy for ion thrusters for space probes . The Juno space probe , which was launched in August 2011, will for the first time draw its energy from particularly efficient and radiation-resistant solar cells in an orbit around the planet Jupiter . Almost all of the around 1000 satellites in use around the world obtain their power supply from photovoltaics. An output of 220 watts per square meter is achieved in space.
Usage on earth
Only in exceptional cases, for example when the next energy network was very far away, was there an installation of terrestrial off-grid photovoltaic systems. With the 1973 oil crisis , interest in other energies grew significantly, but large, central nuclear power plants were still seen as the best solution for a comprehensive energy supply. Since the mid-1970s, for the first time, more solar cells have been produced for terrestrial purposes than for use in space travel.
In 1976, the Australian government decided to operate the entire telecommunications network in the outback with photovoltaic battery stations. The installation and operation were successful and increased confidence in solar technology significantly.
In 1977 a solar module was developed at Sandia Laboratories (Albuquerque, New Mexico) in the USA with the aim of demonstrating a potentially cost-effective technology for photovoltaic energy conversion on earth that was no longer based on custom-made products.
The catastrophic incident at the nuclear power plant on Three Mile Island near Harrisburg in the USA at the end of March 1979 and the oil crisis in late autumn of the same year gave renewable energies a further boost.
From around 1980, solar modules with rechargeable batteries were a standard application for operating signal systems on small unmanned oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico . As a more cost-effective and low-maintenance variant, they replace the large batteries previously used, which had to be replaced every few months, which was labor-intensive and cost-intensive.
Later in the 1980s, the US Coast Guard (Coast Guard), on the initiative of their employee Lloyd Lomer , switched all signal systems and navigation lights to photovoltaic power supply. Previously, the operating costs of these systems had far exceeded the acquisition costs. Thanks to photovoltaics, the operating costs were drastically reduced and the acquisition costs for the more expensive photovoltaic systems quickly amortized.
Now the first major commercial activities also began in the USA, whereby the USA achieved a share of around 21 percent in the world photovoltaic market in 1983. Up until this point in time, the photovoltaic market mainly offered solutions for island systems and plans for large-scale photovoltaic systems.
The Swiss engineer Markus Real was convinced that it made more economic sense to equip every house with its own PV system, i.e. to prefer decentralized energy conversion. He provided evidence with 333 3 kW roof systems installed on individual buildings in Zurich . This was the beginning of a movement in the course of which the 1000 roofs program of the Federal Republic of Germany was launched. From 1991, with the Electricity Feed Act, the energy suppliers were obliged to buy the electricity from the small regenerative power plants. In the mid-1990s , after decisive parts of photovoltaic production migrated from Germany despite the subsidy measures , Greenpeace gave food for thought with a new study on Germany as a photovoltaic location in this sector. New initiatives for the establishment of corresponding industrial companies were founded, from which the Solon AG in Berlin and the solar factory in Freiburg emerged. Solarworld AG was later founded and further companies and factories in this market segment were established.
In Japan there was a 70,000 roofs program (1994), which had already reached 144,000 roofs in 2002, in the USA the 1,000,000 roofs program (1997), in Germany the 1000 roofs program (1990) and the 100,000 roofs program (approx. 65,000 roofs were achieved in 2003), the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) came into force in 2000.
In Germany, many small systems were initially installed below 5 kW peak . In 2005 the total nominal output of the photovoltaic systems installed in Germany reached one gigawatt , in 2010 the limit of ten gigawatts was exceeded and in early 2012 the 25 gigawatts. In addition to roof systems, many solar parks with a few MW peak each were ultimately built. The 37 gigawatt limit was exceeded in mid-2014.
The 200 GW mark was reached worldwide in mid-2015.
In 2019, a plant under construction in Egypt with a capacity of 1.65 GW will go into operation as the world's largest photovoltaic power plant.
literature
Books
- John Perlin: Solar Energy, History of. In: Cutler J. Cleveland (Editor-in-Chief): Encyclopedia of Energy , Elsevier Academic Press, 2005 reprint, Volume 5, pp. 607-622.
- John Perlin: From Space to Earth; The Story of Solar Electricity. First Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 2002, ISBN 0-674-01013-2 .
- John Perlin: Let it Shine: The 6,000-Year Story of Solar Energy , New World Library, Novato (California) 2013, ISBN 978-1-60868-132-7
- Antonio Luque: Solar cells an optics for photovoltaic concentration. In: The Adam Hilger series on optics and optoelectronics. IOP Publishing Ltd, Bristol / Philadelphia 1989, ISBN 0-85274-106-5 .
- Bernward Janzing : Solar times - the career of solar energy. A story of people with visions and advances in technology. Picea Verlag, Freiburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-9814265-0-2 .
swell
- K. Lehovec: The Photo-Voltaic Effect. In: Phys. Rev. 74, 1948, pp. 463-471.
- W. Shockley: Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors. Van Nostrand, Princeton (NJ) 1950.
- DM Chapin, CS Fuller, PL Pearson: A New Silicon pn Junction Photocell for Converting Solar Radiation into Electric Power. In: J. Appl. Phys. 25, 1954, pp. 676-677.
- EL Burgess, DA Pritchard: Performance of a one kilowatt concentrator photovoltaic array utilizing active cooling. In: Proceedings of the 13th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference. 1978, pp. 1121-1124.
- PD Maycock: The current PV scene worldwide. In: Proceedings of the 6th EC Photovoltaic solar Energy Conference. 1985, pp. 771-780.
Web links
- Wolfgang Blum: Strokes of genius (IX): How the solar cell found light . In: ZEIT ONLINE. 2006, Retrieved August 9, 2009.
- John Perlin, Lawrence Kazmerski: Good as Gold: The Silicon Solar Cell Turns 50 ( Memento June 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). In: solar today. March 29, 2004, Retrieved August 9, 2009 (WebAchive).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Sun's rays to drive Aerial Landing Field. In: Modern Mechanix (magazine), October 1934, page 85, (English). Scan of the illustrated article as JPG online , accessed September 13, 2014. Scan in the Retronaut archive as JPG online ( memento of the original from September 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Accessed September 12, 2014.
- ↑ Simon Quellen Field: Building your own battery cell. A note about power. scitoys.com, accessed September 14, 2014 .
- ^ William Regan, et al .: Screening-Engineered Field-Effect Solar Cells . In: Nano Letters . 12, No. 8, July 16, 2012, pp. 4300-4304. doi : 10.1021 / nl3020022 .
- ^ Kurt Lehovec: The Photo-Voltaic Effect . In: Physical Review . tape 74 , no. 4 , 1948, pp. 463-471 .
- ^ Vast Power of the Sun Is Tapped By Battery Using Sand Ingredient . In: The New York Times . The New York Times Company, April 26, 1954, ISSN 0362-4331 , pp. 1 ( Vast Power of the Sun Is Tapped By Battery Using Sand Ingredient [PDF]).
- ↑ History of Solar Cells ( Memento from July 13, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on January 11, 2011
- ↑ What is a (PV) Photovoltaic System? ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed January 11, 2011
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Federal Network Agency: Complete expansion of PV systems supported by EEG. Retrieved September 8, 2014 .
- ↑ Around 200 gigawatts of photovoltaic power are installed worldwide ( Memento of the original from July 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Solarserver , July 2, 2015. Accessed July 12, 2015.
- ↑ Nermine Kotb: Egypt is planning the world's largest solar power plant. , Spiegel.de from February 14, 2018, accessed February 18, 2018.
