Changes in the temperature coefficients of the characteristics of amorphous silicon solar cells subjected to light degradation and recovery

Measuring changes in temperature coefficients is an effective way to estima te the performance of a solar cell. We investigated changes in the temperat ure coefficients of the I-V characteristics of amorphous silicon (a-Si) sol ar cells subjected to light degradation and recovery. There is a good corre lation between change in the temperature coefficient (Psi) and the degradat ion/recovery state of a cell's conversion efficiency (eta). This relationsh ip can be expressed by Psi (eta) = -0.0052 Delta eta - 0.45. Therefore, the temperature coefficient corresponding to the degradation/recovery state ca n be estimated. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.