Rectenna Solar Cells discusses antenna-coupled diode solar cells, an emerging technology that has the potential to provide ultra-high efficiency, low-cost solar energy conversion. This book will provide an overview of solar rectennas, and provide thorough descriptions of the two main components: the diode, and the optical antenna. The editors discuss the science, design, modeling, and manufacturing of the antennas coupled with the diodes. The book will provide concepts to understanding the challenges, fabrication technologies, and materials required to develop rectenna structures. Written by experts in their specialized fields.

Rectenna Solar Cells discusses antenna-coupled diode solar cells, an emerging technology that has the potential to provide ultra-high efficiency, low-cost solar energy conversion. This book will provide an overview of solar rectennas, and provide thorough descriptions of the two main components: the diode, and the optical antenna. The editors discuss the science, design, modeling, and manufacturing of the antennas coupled with the diodes. The book will provide concepts to understanding the challenges, fabrication technologies, and materials required to develop rectenna structures. Written by experts in their specialized fields.

What Is Optical Rectenna A rectenna that functions with either visible or infrared light is referred to as an optical rectenna. The transformation of electromagnetic waves into direct current electricity is accomplished using a rectenna, which is a circuit that consists of both an antenna and a diode. An optical rectenna would function in the same manner as a radio or microwave rectenna, but it would convert infrared or visible light into electricity instead of radio waves or microwaves. Rectennas have been in use for a long time. How You Will Benefit (I) Insights, and validations about the following topics: Chapter 1: Optical rectenna Chapter 2: Photodiode Chapter 3: Band gap Chapter 4: Gallium arsenide Chapter 5: Rectenna Chapter 6: Wide-bandgap semiconductor Chapter 7: Indium phosphide Chapter 8: Photodetector Chapter 9: Photovoltaic effect Chapter 10: Thermophotovoltaic Chapter 11: Hybrid solar cell Chapter 12: Third-generation photovoltaic cell Chapter 13: Multi-junction solar cell Chapter 14: Carbon nanotubes in photovoltaics Chapter 15: Organic solar cell Chapter 16: Solid Chapter 17: Shockley-Queisser limit Chapter 18: Transparent conducting film Chapter 19: Plasmonic solar cell Chapter 20: Solar cell research Chapter 21: Sun-free photovoltaics (II) Answering the public top questions about optical rectenna. (III) Real world examples for the usage of optical rectenna in many fields. (IV) 17 appendices to explain, briefly, 266 emerging technologies in each industry to have 360-degree full understanding of optical rectenna' technologies. Who This Book Is For Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of optical rectenna.

There is a growing interest in recent years on developing solar cells and increasing their conversion efficiency. This interest was motivated by the demand on producing clean and inexpensive energy, where the current solar cell technology failed to fulfill the market demand due to its low efficiency obtained. Thus, an efficient alternative is highly required to overcome the drawbacks of current photovoltaic technologies. In this chapter, the concept and operation of solar rectennas will be introduced as an efficient energy-harvesting technology and as a better alternative to conventional solar cells. Nanoantennas are used for receiving solar radiation at both visible and infrared regions as AC electromagnetic signals. The received power is then passed to a nanodiode that acts as a rectifier to convert the power from AC to DC form. Nanoarrays are utilized often to increase the captured energy and decrease the number of rectifiers of the entire system. The biggest challenge is how to design an efficient nanoantenna integrated efficiently into a nanodiode in order to maximize the overall efficiency. State-of-the-art designs for nanoantennas and nanodiodes will be highlighted in this chapter mentioning the figure of merits used to compare between one design and another.

A major update of solar cell technology and the solar marketplace Since the first publication of this important volume over a decade ago, dramatic changes have taken place with the solar market growing almost 100-fold and the U.S. moving from first to fourth place in the world market as analyzed in this Second Edition. Three bold new opportunities are identified for any countries wanting to improve market position. The first is combining pin solar cells with 3X concentration to achieve economic competitiveness near term. The second is charging battery-powered cars with solar cell generated electricity from arrays in surrounding areas including the car owners' homes while simultaneously reducing their home electricity bills by over ninety percent. The third is formation of economic "unions" of sufficient combined economic size to be major competitors. In this updated edition, feed-in tariffs are identified as the most effective approach for public policy. Reasons are provided to explain why pin solar cells outperform more traditional pn solar cells. Field test data are reported for nineteen percent pin solar cells and for ~500X concentrating systems with bare cell efficiencies approaching forty percent. Paths to bare cell efficiencies over fifty percent are described, and key missing program elements are identified. Since government support is needed for new technology prototype integration and qualification testing before manufacturing scale up, the key economic measure is identified in this volume as the electricity cost in cents per kilowatt-hour at the complete installed system level, rather than just the up-front solar cell modules' costs in dollars per watt. This Second Edition will benefit technologists in the fields of solar cells and systems; solar cell researchers; power systems designers; academics studying microelectronics, semiconductors, and solar cells; business students and investors with a technical focus; and government and political officials developing public policy.