A thermodynamic cycle for the solar cell
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| Auteurs: | , , |
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| Format: | artículo original |
| Date de publication: | 2017 |
| Description: | A solar cell is a heat engine, but textbook treatments are not wholly satisfactory from a thermodynamic standpoint, since they present solar cells as directly converting the energy of light into electricity, and the current in the circuit as maintained by an electrostatic potential. We propose a thermodynamic cycle in which the gas of electrons in the p phase serves as the working substance. The interface between the p and n phases acts as a self-oscillating piston that modulates the absorption of heat from the photons so that it may perform a net positive work during a complete cycle of its motion, in accordance with the laws of thermodynamics. We draw a simple hydrodynamical analogy between this model and the "putt-putt" engine of toy boats, in which the interface between the water's liquid and gas phases serves as the piston. We point out some testable consequences of this model. |
| Pays: | Kérwá |
| Institution: | Universidad de Costa Rica |
| Repositorio: | Kérwá |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:kerwa.ucr.ac.cr:10669/29417 |
| Accès en ligne: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003491617300039 https://hdl.handle.net/10669/29417 |
| Mots-clés: | solar cell self-oscillation limit efficiency plasma oscillation quantum thermodynamics |