Photovoltaic conversion degradation

[Rubycon]

Aside from physical damage to silicon solar cells, is there any degradation purely from the conversion of photon exposure to electrical current?

At the sub atomic level.

I suppose environmental impact would interfere too much to measure such a degradation over time. If indeed this happens with CW sources (like the Sun) then could it be accelerated by using a non CW light source?

I would imagine cells used in space would have the greatest lifetimes outside of being exposed to radiation and FOD, etc.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I suspect the degradation would come from the sunlight itself not, the conversion.

 

[Rubycon]

Yes, exclude degradation from exposure.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

It also brings up the question of differences between exposure to specific wavelengths of light since 'sunlight' is a fairly broad spectrum.

 

[inachu]

the better question would be are we talking about old style solar cells from the 1980's or todays in which they take in a much broader spectrum than they used to?

 

[Rubycon]

I don't think that matters but let's say a decent monocrystalline cell from 1979.

 

[A5]

The main factor would be the heat generated in the cell by the photons that are either not absorbed or that are absorbed incompletely. That energy has to go somewhere, so it turns into heat (the technical term is "phonons", if you care).

But even that is usually dwarfed by environmental effects long before it becomes a factor.

 

[inachu]

I watched an episode of THIS OLD HOUSE and this guy made his own solar cells and the heat dissipation would be absorbed by the heatpipes below it.

It was a nice setup.