The effect of electric and magnetic fields on the operation of a photovoltaic cell

Abstract

In this work, we have investigated the effects of electric and magnetic fields on the operation of a CdS/CuInSe2 photovoltaic cell. Various electric field intensities changing from 0 to 35000 V-dc/m, were applied to the sample while it was irradiated by a He-Ne laser with a wavelength lambda = 670 nm. As a result, the typical values for the open circuit voltage of the photovoltaic cell significantly changed with various intensities of the electric field E-dc. We also applied magnetic fields varying from 0.003 to 0.079 T using a solenoid with an inductance of 10.55 mH and the response of the sample was observed. In the third step of the experiment, instead of the laser beam, various intensities of white light of 50, 100,150 and also 250 lux were utilised. 250 lux was measured to be equivalent to the radiation power of lie-Ne laser beam on the surface of the photovoltaic cell, The effect of electric fields from 0 up to 3 x 10(5) V-dc was applied and some significant experimental results were obtained. As a result of the illumination of the photovoltaic cell by the stimulated and spontaneous light emission sources under the effect of various intensities of electric field E-dc, different electrical behaviours were observed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.