Mathematical modeling and numerical simulation of third generation solar cells

Favino, Marco

Mathematical modeling and numerical simulation of third generation solar cells

Wednesday 23rd December 2009

Sacco, R.

De Falco, C.

The present Master Degree thesis is the result of the work of nine months, carried out at Dipartimento di Matematica F. Brioschi , Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with Prof. Marco Sampietro and coworkers, Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano. The main goal of the thesis is the development and implementation of a computational model for the numerical simulation of third-generation polymer-based solar cells. These devices allow to convert solar energy into electrical and thermal power, and their optimal design turns out to be a central issue in the wider area of renewable energy sources. The thesis is divided into the following ve parts, which are devoted to: Part I introducing the subject of the work with special emphasis to the state of the art of the renewable energy area and to the device operation of a bulk hetero-junction solar cell; Part II introducing the mathematical model for the description of bulk hetero-junctions and the corresponding functional iteration techniques that are needed for its iterative solution; Part III discussing the appropriate numerical methods for the discretization of the dierential problems that must be solved within the functional iteration; Part IV presenting the numerical results of the simulations of a solar cell under dierent operating conditions; Part V drawing some conclusions and perspectives for future activities.