Aging of solar cells under working conditions

Abstract

Rapid development and wide application of photovoltaic (PV) solar systems are primarily based on thorough investigations of the characteristics of solar cells. Though proved to be relatively stable (except perhaps amorphous silicon solar cells) under ordinary working conditions, solar systems are (like any other electronic devices) prone to the effects of aging, which could deteriorate their characteristics. The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of aging on the main characteristics of solar cells such as efficiency, fill factor, short circuit current etc. To simulate and accelerate the effects of aging, solar cells were exposed to the radiation fields of different doses. Investigations were directed to the effects of defects and impurities that influence the minority carrier lifetime, better understanding of transport properties, electron-hole pair creation etc., that would ultimately lead to larger scale application of solar energy in the near future.