The type of material used in solar panels to convert energy contained in the sun's photons into usable energy is the semiconductor. In a solar cell, sunlight excites the electrons in a semiconductor from an energy state in the valence band into the conduction band, and the energy from these excited electrons (which are also known as charge carriers) is harnessed using a circuit. Several qualities can be analyzed when assessing a material's candidacy for usage in a solar cell, one of which is how long on average charge carriers remain excited before losing the energy they absorbed from light and recombining back to the valence band. The longer they remain excited for, the more likely it is that the circuit will be able to harness their energy. There are three forms of charge carrier recombination that can occur, and each method has an associated recombination rate that is dependent on the density of excited electrons in the material and on parameters of the material known as the recombination rate constants. This thesis presents a nonlinear curve fitting method for calculating the recombination rate constants, specifically the radiative recombination constant and Auger recombination constant, values that provide insight into the mechanisms of semiconductors at high charge carrier densities.
"},{"label":"Degree","value":["Bachelor of Arts with Departmental Honors"]},{"label":"Author-supplied Keywords","value":["Charge carrier recombination","Solar energy","Perovskites"]},{"label":"Administrative Note","value":"Drupal Node ID: 24189