• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2148-2153
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• 2007

The electricity conversion-efficiency of solar cell for commercial application is about 6-15%. More than 85% of the incoming solar energy is either reflected or absorbed as heat energy. Consequently, the working temperature of the photovoltaic cells increases considerably after prolonged operations and the cell's efficiency drops significantly. PV/T refers to the integration of a PV module and a solar thermal collector in a single piece of equipment. By cooling the PV module with a fluid steam like air or water, the electricity yield can be improved. At the same time, the heat pick-up by the fluid can be to support space heating or service hot-water systems. In this study, a pulsating heat pipe solar heat collector was combined with single-crystal silicon photovoltaic cell in hybrid energy-generating unit that simultaneously produced low temperature heat and heat and electricity. This experiment was investigating thermal and electrical efficiency for evaluation of a PV/T system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.438-438
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• 2009

We have investigated the effect of forming gas annealing for Upgraded Metallurgical Grade (UMG)-silicon solar cell in order to obtain low-cost high-efficiency cell using post deposition anneal at a relatively low temperature. We have observed that high concentration hydrogenation effectively passivated the defects and improved the minority carrier lifetime, series resistance and conversion efficiency. It can be attributed to significantly improved hydrogen-passivation in high concentration hydrogen process. This improvement can be explained by the enhanced passivation of silicon solar cell with antireflection layer due to hydrogen re-incorporation. The results of this experiment represent a promising guideline for improving the high-efficiency solar cells by introducing an easy and low cost process of post hydrogenation in optimized condition.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.41-47
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• 2014

Extensive investigation on silicon based thin film reveals a wide range of film characteristics, from low optical gap to high optical gap, from amorphous to micro-crystalline silicon etc. Fabrication of single junction, tandem and triple junction solar cell with suitable materials, indicate that fabrication of solar cell of a relatively moderate efficiency is possible with a better light induced stability. Due to these investigations, various competing materials like wide band gap silicon carbide and silicon oxide, low band gap micro-crystalline silicon and silicon germanium etc were also prepared and applied to the solar cells. Such a multi-junction solar cell can be a technologically promising photo-voltaic device, as the external quantum efficiency of such a cell covers a wider spectral range.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.07b
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• pp.1181-1182
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• 2006

The solar power system comprises a solar battery that directly converts light energy to electrical energy with a photovoltaic effect and a power converter system, that is, inverter that converts direct current power, which is generated from solar battery to common alternating current. In this paper, database was constituted through remote monitoring supervision measurement for the long-time positive operation of 3kW solar power system installed within the solar energy positive research complex of Chosun University. As a result of analyzing the reduction of the efficiency of solar battery and inverter that are compositional components of PV system through an analysis on the acquired data, the PV output was proven over 65% of the total output when insolation intensity exceeded 600W/m2 in 2005, and the array conversion efficiency dropped much more than rating; meanwhile, insolation intensity dropped below 600W/m2. Therefore, it has been demonstrated that approximately 35% of the entire amount of PV output operated under the condition that the inverter efficiency rate dropped rapidly by 60 to 70%.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.128-132
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• 2021

In this paper, the surface of electrodes used in solar cells was roughened using wet etching method among surface texturing method, and after surface treatment, dye sensitive solar cell using TiO2 oxide semiconductor was produced. The surface spectroscopic properties of surface treated electrodes were analyzed according to etching time, and by evaluating the electrical properties of TiO2 dye-sensitized solar cells produced according to etching time, the study on improving the efficiency of solar cells according to surface treatment was conducted. As a result, solar cells that etched the electrode surface for 10 minutes could see an improvement of about 27.46[%] over their existing efficiency.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.103-109
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• 2014

Highly efficient hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) thin-film solar cells were prepared on flexible stainless steel substrates using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. To enhance the performance of solar cells, material properties of back reflectors, n-doped seed layers and wide bandgap nc-SiC:H window layers were optimized. The light scattering efficiency of Ag back reflectors was improved by increasing the surface roughness of the films deposited at elevated substrate temperatures. Using the n-doped seed layers with high crystallinity, the initial crystal growth of intrinsic nc-Si:H absorber layers was improved, resulting in the elimination of the defect-dense amorphous regions at the n/i interfaces. The nc-SiC:H window layers with high bandgap over 2.2 eV were deposited under high hydrogen dilution conditions. The vertical current flow of the films was enhanced by the formation of Si nanocrystallites in the amorphous SiC:H matrix. Under optimized conditions, a high conversion efficiency of 9.13% ($V_{oc}=0.52$, $J_{sc}=25.45mA/cm^2$, FF = 0.69) was achieved for the flexible nc-Si:H thin-film solar cells.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.458-464
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• 2014

Light scattering enhancement is widely used to enhance the optical absorption efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells. In this work, we systematically analyzed the effects of spherical voids distributed as light-scattering centers in photoanode films made of an assembly of zinc oxide nanoparticles. Spherical voids in electrode films were formed using a sacrificial template of polystyrene (PS) spheres. The diameter and volume concentration of these spheres was varied to optimize the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells. The effects of film thickness on this efficiency was also examined. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was performed to study electron transport in the electrodes. The highest power conversion efficiency of 4.07 % was observed with $12{\mu}m$ film thickness. This relatively low optimum thickness of the electrode film is due to the enhanced light absorption caused by the light scattering centers of voids distributed in the film.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.95-102
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• 2014

Light trapping techniques can change the propagation direction of incident light and keep the light longer in the absorption layers of solar cells to enhance the power conversion efficiency. In thin film silicon (Si) solar cells, the thickness of absorption layer is generally not enough to absorb entire available photons because of short carrier life time, and light induced degradation effect, which can be compensated by the light trapping techniques. These techniques have been adopted as textured transparent conduction oxide (TCO) layers randomly or periodically textured, intermediate reflection layers of tandem and triple junction, and glass substrates etched by various patterning methods. We reviewed the light trapping techniques for thin film Si solar cells and mainly focused on the commercially available techniques applicable to textured TCO on patterned glass substrates. We described the characterization methods representing the light trapping effects, texturing of TCO and showed the results of multi-scale textured TCO on etched glass substrates. These methods can be used tandem and triple thin film Si solar cells to enhance photo-current and power conversion efficiency of long term stability.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.330-333
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• 2019

Various studies on dye-sensitized solar cells, which are cheaper to manufacture and have superior stability than silicon solar cells, are continuously conducted. In this study, the properties of dye-sensitized solar cells were studied using semiconductor oxides made by mixing $TiO_2$ and $Nb_2O_5$. By adding $Nb_2O_5$ in different proportions, the solar cell was made, and the surface area and electrical characteristics of this cell were measured. As $Nb_2O_5$ was added, the contact area of dye and electrolyte increased and the short-circuit current, open voltage, fill factor and conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells were confirmed to be improved.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.31A no.7
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• pp.102-109
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• 1994

Low cost high efficiency single crystal silicon solar cells for terrestrial applications have been fabricated by using inexpensive materials such as solar grade silicon wafer and pastes, and mass production processes such as screen printing and spray. Under 100 mW/cm$^2$ (AM 1.5) and $25^{\circ}C$ conditions conversion efficiency of 16.48% was obtained by anon fire-thru process and 15.55% by fire-thru process.