Solar Photovoltaics Fundamentals, Technology and Applications

By Prof. Soumitra Satapathi | IIT Roorkee

Learners enrolled: 1439 | Exam registration: 367

ABOUT THE COURSE:
The most important scientific and technical challenges facing humanity in the 21st century are energy security, environmental security and economic security; these can likely be met only through addressing the energy problem with in the next 10–20 years. Meeting global energy demand in a sustainable fashion will require not only increased energy efficiency and new methods of using existing carbon based fuels but also renewable energy. Moreover, rising prices and sporadic shortages of fossil fuels provides the impetus for the present worldwide effort to develop alternative sources of energy. Solar energy is to be a major primary energy source; utilization requires solar capture and conversion. In this course we will discuss about various photovoltaics technologies, different generation of solar cells, device fabrication and characterization techniques and applications in industries.

PREREQUISITES: Basic knowledge of 12th standard physics is sufficient

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Renewable energy sectors, power industries and Green building companies will be interested

Summary

Course Status :	Completed
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	8 weeks
Category :	Physics
Credit Points :	2
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	22 Jul 2024
End Date :	13 Sep 2024
Enrollment Ends :	05 Aug 2024
Exam Registration Ends :	16 Aug 2024
Exam Date :	22 Sep 2024 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Introduction to course, Review of Semiconductor Physics, Charge carrier generation and recombination, p-n junction model and depletion capacitance, Current voltage characteristics in dark and light

Week 2: Device Physics of Solar Cells, Principle of solar energy conversion, Conversion efficiency, Single, tandem multi-junction solar cells, Numerical solar cell modeling

Week 3: Numerical solar cell modeling, Crystalline silicon and III-V solar cells, Thin film solar cells: Amorphous silicon, Quantum Dot solar cells,

Week 4: Introduction to Dye Sensitized Solar Cells, Fabrication of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells, Design of novel dyes, Design of solid electrolytes materials, Counter electrode engineering

Week 5: Introduction to Organic Solar Cells, Physics of Bulk Heterojunction(BHJ) Solar Cells, Morphology and charge separation in BHJ, Design of low bandgap polymers

Week 6: Perovskite Solar Cells, Fabrication of perovskite solar cells, Photophysics in perovskite solar cells, Stability in perovskite solar cells, Lead free perovskite solar cells

Week 7: Photovoltaic system engineering, Thermo- Photovoltaic generation of electricity, Concentration and storage of electrical energy, Photovoltaics modules, system and application, Green energy building

Week 8: Nanomaterials for photovoltaics, PV panels with nanostructures, Band gap engineering and optical engineering, Photo thermal cells, Energy Economy and management

Books and references

1.Jasprit Singh, “Semiconductor Devices, Basic Principles”. Wiley, 2001
2.Jenny Nelson, “The Physics of Solar Cells”, Imperial College Press, 2003

References:

Stephen J.Fonash, “Solar Cell Device Physics”, 2nd edition, Academic Press, 2003
A . Luque and S.Hegedus, :Handbook of Photovoltaic Science &Engineering”., Wiley Tsakalakos, L.; “Nanotechnology for Photovoltaics”, CRC

Instructor bio

Prof. Soumitra Satapathi

IIT Roorkee

Prof. Soumitra Satapathi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee and also the visiting Professor of Physics at University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA. He is also a joint faculty in the Center for Nanotechnology at IIT Roorkee. Before joining to IIT Roorkee, Dr. Satapathi was a postdoctoral research fellow at Tufts University Boston, USA. He received his M.S and Ph.D. degree in Physics from University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA in 2010 and 2012 respectively. Dr. Satapathi has published more than 20 international journal papers and received several international awards including Marquis Whos Who of America 2011and BASE Award on Solar Photovoltaic from DST. Dr. Satapathis research is focused on the development of advanced materials and their use in organic electronics including organic solar cells, LEDs and sensors.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: 22 September 2024 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 6 assignments out of the total 8 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Roorkee .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

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