MULTIPHYSICS ANALYSIS OF PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR CELLS [Keynote]

The physics of power generation on photovoltaic solar cells is complex, involving multiple fields. In this study, the performance characteristics of Silicon based solar cells are investigated considering mechanical, therma, electrical and chemical fields through a finite element (FE) analysis. A fully coupled thermo-mechanical-electrostatic-chemical relations for a deformable semiconductor are planned to be developed by combining the thermodynamically consistent formulation of the interaction between electric field and polarizable matter with the carrier charge transportation. A functional form of free energy considering the energies due to all the above-mentioned fields will be defined, through which the constitutive relations can be derived. As a result, the influence of the densities of electrons and holes can be coupled to the mechanical equilibrium. Therefore, the FE analysis can be finally extended to estimate the I-V characteristics of a p-n junction. Furthermore, each node of such three dimensional finite element is estimated possesses 14 degrees of freedom, leading to a total of 112 degrees of freedom per element.
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