High-Bandgap Solar Cells for Underwater Photovoltaic Applications

Author

Jenkins, Phillip P. ; Messenger, Sean ; Trautz, Kelly M. ; Maximenko, S.I. ; Goldstein, D. ; Scheiman, David ; Hoheisel, Raymond ; Walters, R.J.

Author_Institution

US Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA

Volume

4

Issue

1

fYear

2014

fDate

Jan. 2014

Firstpage

202

Lastpage

207

Abstract

Autonomous systems are increasingly used to provide situational awareness and long-term environment monitoring. Photovoltaics (PV) are favored as a long-endurance power source for many of these applications. To date, the use of PV is limited to space and terrestrial (dry-land) installations. The need for a persistent power source also exists for underwater (UW) systems, which currently rely on surface PV arrays or batteries. In this paper, we demonstrate that high-bandgap-InGaP solar cells can provide useful power UW.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; energy gap; gallium compounds; indium compounds; installation; secondary cells; solar cell arrays; InGaP; InGaP solar cells; autonomous systems; batteries; dry-land installation; high-bandgap solar cells; long-endurance power source; long-term environment monitoring; persistent power source; situational awareness; space installation; surface PV arrays; terrestrial installation; underwater photovoltaic applications; Absorption; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic systems; Silicon; Temperature measurement; Water; III–V semiconductor materials; photovoltaic cell; spectral shape; underwater (UW) technology;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

2156-3381

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2283578

Filename

6631466