Photovoltaic and Photoelectrochemical Solar Energy Conversion (Nato Science Series B:, 69)

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in syscems which enable the conversion of solar energy into electri calor chemical energy. Many types of systems have been proposed and studied experimenta11y, the fundamentals of which extend from solid state physics to photo- and electrochemistry. For most of the systems considered excitation of an electron by absorption of a photon is fo1lowed by charge separation at an interface. It follows that the different fields involved (photovo1taics, photo electrochemistry, photogalvanics, etc.) have several essential aspects in common. It was the main purpose with the NATO Advanced Study Insti tute held at Gent, Belgium, from August 25 to September 5, 1980, to bring together research workers specializing in one of these fields in order to enab1e them not only to extend their knowledge into their own field but also to promote the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas. The scope of the A.S.I. has been 1imited to systems which have not or have hardly reached the stage of prac tica1 development. As a consequence, no lectures on economica1 aspects of solar energy conversion have been included. The topics covered in this volume are the fundamentals of recombination in solar ce1ls (P. Landsberg), theoretical and experimental aspects of heterojunctions and semiconductor/metal Schottky barriers (J.J. Loferski, W.H. Bloss and W.G. Townsend), photoelectrochemica1 ce11s (H. Gerischer and A.J. Nozik), pho- v PREFACE vi ga1vanic ce11s (W.J. Albery) and fina11y, surfactant assemb1ies (M. Grätzel) Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Recombination in Solar Cells: Theoretical Aspects....Pages 1-66 Schottky Barrier Solar Cells....Pages 67-115 CdS-Cu x S Thin Film Solar Cells....Pages 117-156 Conversion of Solar Energy Using Tandem Photovoltaic Cells Made from Multi-Element Semiconductors....Pages 157-198 The Principles of Photoelectrochemical Energy Conversion....Pages 199-261 Photoelectrochemical Devices for Solar Energy Conversion....Pages 263-312 The Iron Thionine Photogalvanic Cell....Pages 313-347 Charge Separation and Redox Catalysis in Solar Energy Conversion Processes....Pages 349-409 Back Matter....Pages 411-422