GaAs Solar cells for zero emission building design

Gallium arsenide (GaAs) based solar cells are widely used as sources of power in different applications such as spacecraft and satellites due to their high absorption coefficient, high efficiency, and high resistance to high-energy particles such as electrons and protons. With the emergence of a global energy crisis, gaining access to high-efficiency, low-cost solar cells has been one of the key goals of photovoltaic research. Considering the high efficiency of GaAs cells (۴۶%) compared to the ۲۳% of silicon solar cells, the former can be used in buildings in order to achieve a building with almost zero emissions, so that solar irradiation can be used more efficiently and more solar energy can be turned into electricity. The combination of III-V semiconductors in solar cells is a good choice for its superb performance, compared to other existing solar cell technologies. Despite the benefits of the III-V solar cells, the market has been dominated by Si cells due to their lower prices. In the present study, unlike traditional methods, all information was gathered by software from the beginning, so that the most optimum form of the building can be achieved in order to utilize the whole power of solar energy. Our modeling results show a promising future for GaAs solar cells. Modeling and optimization was done using the Grasshopper plugin. In order to analyze the radiation, weather information, the amount of solar energy and etc. the Ladybug and Honeybee plugins were used.

Keywords:

Gallium arsenide cells , optimization , sustainable building , Zero emission building