Gallium Arsenide Solar Panels

Gallium arsenide solar cells.

Gallium arsenide solar panels.

The first known operational use of gaas solar cells in space was for the venera 3 mission launched in 1965. Gallium arsenide is an important semiconductor material for high cost high efficiency solar cells and is used for single crystalline thin film solar cells and for multi junction solar cells. This makes them a good candidate for a stacked type of solar panels used for collecting light from all across the spectrum. It s highly effective as a semiconductor and produces a high energy yield for a small amount of material.

It s a compound mixture of gallium and arsenic. In a recent article in the magazine electronic news gallium arsenide was tested on a germanium substrate. Gallium arsenide super efficient solar cells. Gallium arsenide solar cells can have roughly 25 efficiency rating with only one junction.

This world record was set by dr mark keevers and professor martin green senior research fellow and director respectively of unsw s australian centre for advanced photovoltaic s using a 28 square centimetre four. As a runner up multi junction cells made of gallium arsenide and similar materials resist degradation better than silicon and are the most efficient cells currently made with energy conversion efficiencies up to 34. But silicon based solar is so much cheaper to make that gallium arsenide solar cells are relegated to exotic applications such as satellites. It would certainly be nice being energy independent let alone having an.

Junction refers to the number of light absorbing layers in the cell. Plan your solar panel system carefullyplace the square solar cells onto the wooden board and draw separating lines carefully. The millions of solar panels being dumped in landfills are a veritable toxic cocktail of gallium arsenide tellurium silver crystalline silicon lead cadmium and other heavy metals. It has a bandgap of 1 49 ev which is better than silicon.

The resulting efficiency level was 24 9 for a single junction. Just make sure your ammeter bears the solar cells nominal power 108w at 12v means 9 amps. Solar grid tie inverter. Unlike traditional solar panels gallium arsenide thin film solar cells have the advantages of flexibility flexibility light weight adjustable color and shape plasticity.

Gallium arsenide gaas has been growing in popularity as a solar panels semiconductor in recent years. These advantages are important factors that can be applied to automotive design and manufacturing.