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Cadmium Telluride Photovoltaics
Cadmium telluride (CdTe) photovoltaics is a photovoltaic (PV) technology based on the use of cadmium telluride in a thin semiconductor layer designed to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity. Cadmium telluride PV is the only thin film technology with lower costs than conventional solar cells made of crystalline silicon in multi-kilowatt systems.K. Zweibel, J. Mason, V. Fthenakis,A Solar Grand Plan, ''Scientific American'', Jan 2008. CdTe PV is the cheapest example of PV technologies and prices are about 16¢/kWh with US Southwest sunlight. , on a lifecycle basis, CdTe PV has the smallest carbon footprint, lowest water use and shortest energy payback time of any current photo voltaic technology. CdTe's energy payback time of less than a year allows for faster carbon reductions without short-term energy deficits. The toxicity of cadmium is an environmental concern during production and when the panels are disposed of. Some of this might be mitigated by recycling of CdT ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NREL Array
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US specializes in the research and development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy systems integration, and sustainable transportation. NREL is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Department of Energy and operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, a joint venture between MRIGlobal and Battelle. Located in Golden, Colorado, NREL is home to the National Center for Photovoltaics, the National Bioenergy Center, and the National Wind Technology Center. History The Solar Energy Research, Development and Demonstration Act of 1974 established the Solar Energy Research Institute, which opened in 1977 and was operated by MRIGlobal. Under the Jimmy Carter administration, its activities went beyond research and development in solar energy as it tried to popularize knowledge about already existing technologies, like passive solar. During the Ronald Reagan administration the institute ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tempe, Arizona
, settlement_type = City , named_for = Vale of Tempe , image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg , imagesize = 260px , image_caption = Tempe skyline as seen from Papago Park , image_flag = Tempe, Arizona official flag.png , seal_size = , image_map = File:Maricopa County Arizona Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Tempe Highlighted 0473000.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location of Tempe in Maricopa County, Arizona , image_map1 = , mapsize1 = , map_caption1 = , pushpin_map = Arizona#USA , pushpin_map_caption = Location in Arizona##Location in the United States , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates = , subdivision_type = L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electrophoretic Deposition
Electrophoretic deposition (EPD), is a term for a broad range of industrial processes which includes electrocoating, cathodic electrodeposition, anodic electrodeposition, and electrophoretic coating, or electrophoretic painting. A characteristic feature of this process is that colloidal particles suspended in a liquid medium migrate under the influence of an electric field (electrophoresis) and are deposited onto an electrode. All colloidal particles that can be used to form stable suspensions and that can carry a charge can be used in electrophoretic deposition. This includes materials such as polymers, pigments, dyes, ceramics and metals. The process is useful for applying materials to any electrically conductive surface. The materials which are being deposited are the major determining factor in the actual processing conditions and equipment which may be used. Due to the wide utilization of electrophoretic painting processes in many industries, aqueous EPD is the most common c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Close-space Sublimation
Closed space sublimation is a method of producing thin-films, esp. cadmium telluride photovoltaics, though it is used for other materials like antimony triselenide. It is a type of physical vapor deposition where the substrate to be coated and the source material are held close to one another. They are both placed in a vacuum chamber, which is pumped down. The source and substrate are then heated. The source is heated to some fraction of its melting temperature, and the substrate some lower temperature e.g. 640 °C and 600 °C, respectively. This causes sublimation of the source, allowing vapors to travel a short distance to the substrate, where they condense, producing a thin film. This short-path diffusion is similar in principle to short-path distillation Short-path distillation is a distillation Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co
Matsushita (written: lit. "below the pine tree") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Daisuke Matsushita (born 1981), a former Japanese football player *Hiro Matsushita (born 1961), former Japanese Champ Car racing driver, businessman and grandson of Konosuke Matsushita. Chairman of Swift Engineering & Swift Xi *, Japanese handball player *Ko Matsushita, a Japanese conductor and composer * Kohei Matsushita (born 1985), a Japanese football (soccer) player currently playing for Ehime F.C. * Konosuke Matsushita (1894–1989), a Japanese industrialist and founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., now known as Panasonic Corporation *Masaharu Matsushita (1912–2012), a Japanese businessman, the second president of Matsushita Electric, and son-in-law of Konosuke Matsushita *Miyuki Matsushita (born 1969), a Japanese voice actress * Moeko Matsushita (born 1982), a Japanese singer and actress *Nao Matsushita (born 1985), a Japanese actress and pia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kodak
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated in New Jersey. Kodak provides packaging, functional printing, graphic communications, and professional services for businesses around the world. Its main business segments are Print Systems, Enterprise Inkjet Systems, Micro 3D Printing and Packaging, Software and Solutions, and Consumer and Film. It is best known for photographic film products. Kodak was founded by George Eastman and Henry A. Strong on May 23, 1892. During most of the 20th century, Kodak held a dominant position in photographic film. The company's ubiquity was such that its " Kodak moment" tagline entered the common lexicon to describe a personal event that deserved to be recorded for posterity. Kodak began to struggle financially in the late 1990s, as a result of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cadmium Sulfide
Cadmium sulfide is the inorganic compound with the formula CdS. Cadmium sulfide is a yellow solid.Egon Wiberg, Arnold Frederick Holleman (2001''Inorganic Chemistry'' Elsevier It occurs in nature with two different crystal structures as the rare minerals greenockite and hawleyite, but is more prevalent as an impurity substituent in the similarly structured zinc ores sphalerite and wurtzite, which are the major economic sources of cadmium. As a compound that is easy to isolate and purify, it is the principal source of cadmium for all commercial applications. Its vivid yellow color led to its adoption as a pigment for the yellow paint "cadmium yellow" in the 18th century. Production Cadmium sulfide can be prepared by the precipitation from soluble cadmium(II) salts with sulfide ion. This reaction has been used for gravimetric analysis and qualitative inorganic analysis.The preparative route and the subsequent treatment of the product, affects the polymorphic form that is produced ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heterojunction
A heterojunction is an interface between two layers or regions of dissimilar semiconductors. These semiconducting materials have unequal band gaps as opposed to a homojunction. It is often advantageous to engineer the electronic energy bands in many solid-state device applications, including semiconductor lasers, solar cells and transistors. The combination of multiple heterojunctions together in a device is called a heterostructure, although the two terms are commonly used interchangeably. The requirement that each material be a semiconductor with unequal band gaps is somewhat loose, especially on small length scales, where electronic properties depend on spatial properties. A more modern definition of heterojunction is the interface between any two solid-state materials, including crystalline and amorphous structures of metallic, insulating, fast ion conductor and semiconducting materials. Manufacture and applications Heterojunction manufacturing generally requires the use of mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solar Cell Efficiency
Solar-cell efficiency refers to the portion of energy in the form of sunlight that can be converted via photovoltaics into electricity by the solar cell. The efficiency of the solar cells used in a photovoltaic system, in combination with latitude and climate, determines the annual energy output of the system. For example, a solar panel with 20% efficiency and an area of 1 m2 will produce 200 kWh/yr at Standard Test Conditions if exposed to the Standard Test Condition solar irradiance value of 1000 W/m2 for 2.74 hours a day. Usually solar panels are exposed to sunlight for longer than this in a given day, but the solar irradiance is less than 1000 W/m2 for most of the day. A solar panel can produce more when the sun is high in the sky and will produce less in cloudy conditions or when the sun is low in the sky, usually the sun is lower in the sky in the winter. Two location dependant factors that affect solar PV efficiency are the dispersion and intensity ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Copper Indium Gallium Selenide
Copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) is a I- III- VI2 semiconductor material composed of copper, indium, gallium, and selenium. The material is a solid solution of copper indium selenide (often abbreviated "CIS") and copper gallium selenide. It has a chemical formula of CuIn1−''x''Ga''x''Se2, where the value of ''x'' can vary from 0 (pure copper indium selenide) to 1 (pure copper gallium selenide). CIGS is a tetrahedrally bonded semiconductor, with the chalcopyrite crystal structure, and a bandgap varying continuously with ''x'' from about 1.0 eV (for copper indium selenide) to about 1.7 eV (for copper gallium selenide). Structure CIGS is a tetrahedrally bonded semiconductor, with the chalcopyrite crystal structure. Upon heating it transforms to the zincblende form and the transition temperature decreases from 1045 °C for ''x'' = 0 to 805 °C for ''x'' = 1. Applications It is best known as the material for CIGS solar cells a thin-film technology ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amorphous Silicon
Amorphous silicon (a-Si) is the non-crystalline form of silicon used for solar cells and thin-film transistors in LCDs. Used as semiconductor material for a-Si solar cells, or thin-film silicon solar cells, it is deposited in thin films onto a variety of flexible substrates, such as glass, metal and plastic. Amorphous silicon cells generally feature low efficiency. As a second-generation thin-film solar cell technology, amorphous silicon was once expected to become a major contributor in the fast-growing worldwide photovoltaic market, but has since lost its significance due to strong competition from conventional crystalline silicon cells and other thin-film technologies such as CdTe and CIGS. Amorphous silicon is a preferred material for the thin film transistor (TFT) elements of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and for x-ray imagers. Amorphous silicon differs from other allotropic variations, such as monocrystalline silicon—a single crystal, and polycrystalline silicon, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semiconductor Material
A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. Its conducting properties may be altered in useful ways by introducing impurities (" doping") into the crystal structure. When two differently doped regions exist in the same crystal, a semiconductor junction is created. The behavior of charge carriers, which include electrons, ions, and electron holes, at these junctions is the basis of diodes, transistors, and most modern electronics. Some examples of semiconductors are silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide, and elements near the so-called "metalloid staircase" on the periodic table. After silicon, gallium arsenide is the second-most common semiconductor and is used in laser diodes, solar cells, microwave-frequency integrated circuits, and others. Silicon is a critical element for f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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