 | This biographical article is written like a résumé .(December 2020) |
Joachim Luther (born 31 March 1941 in Hannover, Germany) received his PhD in experimental physics at the Leibniz University Hannover in 1970.
| This biographical article is written like a résumé .(December 2020) |
Joachim Luther (born 31 March 1941 in Hannover, Germany) received his PhD in experimental physics at the Leibniz University Hannover in 1970.
In 1974, Luther became professor of physics at the newly founded University of Oldenburg. [1] In the beginning of the 1980s, his scientific interest shifted towards renewable energy sources, in particular solar power. In 1987, he became dean of the physics faculty at this university.
In 1993, he accepted a call to become professor of solid-state physics at the University of Freiburg in Southern Germany and head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in this city at the same time. He succeeded Adolf Goetzberger in these functions. In the following years, Luther established this institute as the largest research center for solar energy in Europe. During his tenure, various solar cells with world-record characteristics at the time were developed at ISE:
Professor Luther retired from ISE in 2006. In 2008, he was asked by the Government of Singapore to set-up and head the newly founded Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS). [3] In 2012, he returned to Germany, where he is director emeritus of ISE.
List provided by the German Environment Foundation. [4]
He was Editor-in-Chief of the Solar Energy published by Elsevier from 1999 to 2002.
Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially used for electricity generation and as photosensors.
In the 19th century, it was observed that the sunlight striking certain materials generates detectable electric current – the photoelectric effect. This discovery laid the foundation for solar cells. Solar cells have gone on to be used in many applications. They have historically been used in situations where electrical power from the grid was unavailable.
An epitaxial wafer is a wafer of semiconducting material made by epitaxial growth (epitaxy) for use in photonics, microelectronics, spintronics, or photovoltaics. The epi layer may be the same material as the substrate, typically monocrystaline silicon, or it may be a silicon dioxide (SoI) or a more exotic material with specific desirable qualities. The purpose of epitaxy is to perfect the crystal structure over the bare substrate below and improve the wafer surface's electrical characteristics, making it suitable for highly complex microprocessors and memory devices.
A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by means of the photovoltaic effect. It is a form of photoelectric cell, a device whose electrical characteristics vary when it is exposed to light. Individual solar cell devices are often the electrical building blocks of photovoltaic modules, known colloquially as "solar panels". Almost all commercial PV cells consist of crystalline silicon, with a market share of 95%. Cadmium telluride thin-film solar cells account for the remainder. The common single-junction silicon solar cell can produce a maximum open-circuit voltage of approximately 0.5 to 0.6 volts.
Charles Fritts was the American inventor credited with creating the first working selenium cell in 1883.
Martin Andrew Green is an Australian engineer and professor at the University of New South Wales who works on solar energy. He was awarded the 2021 Japan Prize for his achievements in the "Development of High-Efficiency Silicon Photovoltaic Devices". He is editor-in-chief of the academic journal Progress in Photovoltaics.
Renewable energy in Germany is mainly based on wind and biomass, plus solar and hydro. Germany had the world's largest photovoltaic installed capacity until 2014, and as of 2023 it has over 82 GW. It is also the world's third country by installed total wind power capacity, 64 GW in 2021 and second for offshore wind, with over 7 GW. Germany has been called "the world's first major renewable energy economy".
Solar power accounted for an estimated 10.7% electricity in Germany in 2022, up from 1.9% in 2010 and less than 0.1% in 2000.
Monocrystalline silicon, more often called single-crystal silicon, in short mono c-Si or mono-Si, is the base material for silicon-based discrete components and integrated circuits used in virtually all modern electronic equipment. Mono-Si also serves as a photovoltaic, light-absorbing material in the manufacture of solar cells.
Thin-film solar cells are a type of solar cell made by depositing one or more thin layers of photovoltaic material onto a substrate, such as glass, plastic or metal. Thin-film solar cells are typically a few nanometers (nm) to a few microns (μm) thick–much thinner than the wafers used in conventional crystalline silicon (c-Si) based solar cells, which can be up to 200 μm thick. Thin-film solar cells are commercially used in several technologies, including cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), and amorphous thin-film silicon.
Between 1992 and 2023, the worldwide usage of photovoltaics (PV) increased exponentially. During this period, it evolved from a niche market of small-scale applications to a mainstream electricity source. From 2016-2022 it has seen an annual capacity and production growth rate of around 26%- doubling approximately every three years.
Crystalline silicon or (c-Si) Is the crystalline forms of silicon, either polycrystalline silicon, or monocrystalline silicon. Crystalline silicon is the dominant semiconducting material used in photovoltaic technology for the production of solar cells. These cells are assembled into solar panels as part of a photovoltaic system to generate solar power from sunlight.
There are currently many research groups active in the field of photovoltaics in universities and research institutions around the world. This research can be categorized into three areas: making current technology solar cells cheaper and/or more efficient to effectively compete with other energy sources; developing new technologies based on new solar cell architectural designs; and developing new materials to serve as more efficient energy converters from light energy into electric current or light absorbers and charge carriers.
Antonio Luque López is a Spanish scientist and entrepreneur in the field of photovoltaic solar energy. In 1979 he founded the Institute of Solar Energy of the Technical University of Madrid (IES-UPM) and was its director till his retirement in 2017; he is currently its honorary president as well as professor emeritus in this university. He invented the bifacial solar cell in the late 1970s, today one of the mainstream solar cell technologies, and founded Isofoton in 1981 for its industrial production. He is, arguably, one of the fathers of the science and technology of concentrator photovoltaics and has been active in the research and development of high-efficiency photovoltaic conversion devices, inventing the intermediate band solar cell.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE is an institute of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Located in Freiburg, Germany, The Institute performs applied scientific and engineering research and development for all areas of solar energy. Fraunhofer ISE has three external branches in Germany which carry out work on solar cell and semiconductor material development: the Laboratory and Service Center (LSC) in Gelsenkirchen, the Technology Center of Semiconductor Materials (THM) in Freiberg, and the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics (CSP) in Halle. From 2006 to 2016 Eicke Weber was the director of Fraunhofer ISE. With over 1,100 employees, Fraunhofer ISE is the largest institute for applied solar energy research in Europe. The 2012 Operational Budget including investments was 74.3 million euro.
Henry James Snaith is a professor in physics in the Clarendon Laboratory at the University of Oxford. Research from his group has led to the creation of a new research field, based on halide perovskites for use as solar absorbers. Many individuals who were PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in Snaith's group have now established research groups, independent research portfolios and commercial enterprises. He co-founded Oxford Photovoltaics in 2010 to commercialise perovskite based tandem solar cells.
The Silicon Module Super League (SMSL) later the Solar Module Super League is a group of major crystalline silicon (c-Si) module suppliers in the solar PV industry. The 'big six' industry group members were Canadian Solar, Hanwha Q CELLS, JA Solar, Jinko Solar, and Trina Solar. LONGi the world's largest solar monocrystalline silicon manufacturer and GCL, the world's largest solar poly crystalline silicon manufacturer, both joined the SMSL in mid-2016. As of February 2019, PVTech added First Solar and Risen Energy to the list of SMSL manufacturers.
The European Becquerel Prize for Outstanding Merits in Photovoltaics is a prize to honour scientific, technical or managerial merits in the field of photovoltaic solar energy. It has been established in 1989 by the European Commission at the occasion of the 150th anniversary of a groundbreaking experiment by Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel, also known as Edmond Becquerel, in which he discovered the photovoltaic effect. The prize is awarded to a single individual who is recognized for continuous achievements in the field of photovoltaic energy conversion. The prize is primarily a European award but not restricted exclusively to European citizens. The prize is granted by the European Commission. The Becquerel Prize Committee selects the individual to be honoured.
Eicke Richard Weber is a German physicist.
The European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition is an international scientific conference and industry exhibition in the solar energy industry. The event covers developments in different aspects of photovoltaics, including science, technology, systems, finance, policies, and markets. The conference topics include the spectrum of photovoltaics value chain, such as policy considerations and foundational aspects.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
