ABSTRACT
The photovoltaic effect offers conversion of solar energy into electricity. The physics of photovoltaic is very simple, wherein photo-generated electron–hole pairs are separated by an inbuilt potential and this results into accumulation of positive and negative charges on either side of the photovoltaic cell. This separation of charges generates voltage.
Organic photovoltaic along with thin-film solar technology is a breakthrough in the solar cell technology. The main idea is to use very little organic material, collecting as much light as possible. In this sense, graphene is the master material in the present-day solar cell technology. Efficiency could be improved to as high as 22%, whereas the present commercial solar cell has 15% efficiency. Whatever may be the technique, the ultimate objective is to improve the efficiency and reducing the cost per unit cell.
This chapter describes fundamentals of photovoltaic and the advantages of organic photovoltaic using graphene. It also illustrates solar panel manufacturing and the solar panel installation technique from an engineering point of view to have an overall idea about how it is implemented.
