Introduction to solar cells

In this introduction module I would like to introduce you to the course its content and teaching style. I hope you will enjoy the way we have designed the course.

The first topic in an introduction course on solar cells is naturally a historical overview. In this module you will briefly get introduced to the history and early development of solar cells. We will also start to do some calculations of efficiency and energy output of solar cells.

How much power can a solar cell produce and how can we measure it? This question is the starting point for this module and we will go through the terminology, talk about light sources, and even measure a solar cell ourselves.

In this module we will attack the topic: How do solar cells work? This module will be more theory heavy than other parts of the course, but don't worry. We will focus on the key concepts that are necessary to understand how solar cells work, and skip the math.

Silicon solar cells are by far the most prevalent solar cell technology. In this module we will talk about why silicon is so abundant. We will also learn how silicon solar cells are made, what differentiates multi and monocrystalline silicon, and much more.