ABSTRACT
Photovoltaics (PV) are a critical renewable energy technology and an elegant and increasingly cost-effective means for directly converting solar energy into electricity. The widespread nature and relative global abundance of the solar resource also means that using photovoltaics for energy production effectively improves energy security. This chapter details my unusual and convoluted route into photovoltaics research and uses this narrative to discuss a range of photovoltaic and PV-related technologies. Key to further developments in this field are understanding the physical limits to photovoltaic energy conversion, and further investigation into means for fully recycling modules and devices as they reach their end-of-life. This chapter includes a section on the thermodynamics and loss mechanisms in solar cells, and a brief discussion of the problems associated with panel recycling, particularly the need to develop panels with minimal to no polymeric constituents. The final section outlines the direction that future research into renewable energy technologies in general, and photovoltaics in particular, should take.
