The Earth is bathed in solar energy, an energy so obvious that it is often forgotten. And yet, with 885,000,000 TWh per year, incident solar energy represents more than 6,000 times the world's primary energy consumption. It is therefore an abundant, renewable energy source that could perfectly well cover a large proportion of our energy needs.
In the current context of widespread awareness of the need to combat global warming, massive use of solar energy is an obvious choice. At present, the only way to transform this inexhaustible energy directly into electricity is to use the photovoltaic effect. Discovered in the 19th century by French researcher Antoine Becquerel, the photovoltaic effect refers to the properties of certain materials - semiconductors - which generate an electric current when exposed to sunlight. These properties are used to generate electricity from solar photovoltaic systems. The current form of the solar cell was invented in 1954 at Bell Laboratories in the USA. Since then, photovoltaics has become one of the fastest-growing renewable energies, and is set to play a major role in the energy mix of the future.
The aim of this presentation is to give an overview of the various photovoltaic technologies, their margins for progress and their limitations, and then to take stock of the current state of research in this field. Researchers include physicists and specialists in electronic devices, but we often forget the chemists who also play a key role in the development of photovoltaics. We'll see how chemistry has made decisive contributions, from silicon purification and thin-film synthesis to understanding materials and interfaces.
We'll also look at how chemistry has contributed to the design of new, less costly production processes. Increasing photovoltaic yields is a strategic priority for the development of different technologies on a very large scale, and for their industrial viability as cell production costs fall. We will see how chemistry could become a major source of innovation and inspiration for new photovoltaic concepts.
