The Potential of Photovoltaics

摘要

Photovoltaic devices directly convert light to electricity. While the science of such phenomena has been studied since the 1800's, it wasn't until the early 1950's when scientists at Bell Labs made the first photovoltaic devices capable of powering circa electronic devices. These early devices were made from crystalline silicon. Since then many new material systems have been tried with varying degrees of success. The appeal is obvious, a way to make electricity with a free “fuel” supply. In order to compete with existing energy resources, these early solar cells had to be produced at significantly lower cost, have higher conversion efficiency, and be more reliable in order to withstand the outdoor elements for decades of service life. In fact, it is these three considerations that still drive the bulk of the photovoltaic (PV) research and development today. In this paper I will discuss where PV can fit within the context of the world marketed energy portfolio, describe the basic workings of a PV device, detail some of the more common PV technologies, and highlight where vacuum web coating applications exist within those technologies.