Photovoltaic Effect in CdS or CdSe

[Vagn]

I have a somewhat different question to the usual sort asked.

In the literature on photovoltaics numerous authors, both academic and popular refer to an Audobert and Stora who in 1932 observed the photovoltaic effect in either CdS or CdSe, depending on the author, however no citation is given. No first names or initials are ever given for the Audobert or Stora either to aid in identifying them.
Examples in the literature are section 2 here, under 1932 here and table 2 here. which all refer to CdS and Section 2 here which refers to CdSe.
The US DoE also features the claim in its 'history of solar' page here
In Shirland's 1966 review of CdS Solar Cells, he makes no reference to the pair, only noting Reynolds' work alongside that of Nadjakov et al. none of the co-authors of whom could be the enigmatic Audobert or Stora.

I've tried for some time to find the original reference of Audobert and Stora, however I've hand no luck in finding it and neither the library at my institute or google seems to have it either, or any record of Audobert or Stora.
As such I was wondering if anyone has come across either the original paper or patent, or has any idea who Audobert or Stora could be?

Their names sound like they are Scandinavian and could perhaps have been working in Germany in the 1930s, and judging by the time period in question I suspect that the original paper or patent may have been in German. There are a few French Audoberts also so it is possible they were in France at the time.

If anyone has come across this pair before, any information would be much appreciated.

 

[Fewmet]

I am interested by how many website say essentially that Audobert and Stora discovered the photoelectric effect in one or the other of those compounds in 1932 without citation.

I found two pdfs that credit the following for the information:

• Cleveland CJ. Handbook of Energy. In: Handbook of Energy.Vol II. Elsevier; 2014:287-302. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-417013-1.00015-7.
  
• U.S. Deparment of Energy EE and RE. The Histroy of Solar Technology. Pennyhill Press 2013:1- 12.
  
• Vesselinka Petrova-Koch, Rudolf Hezel, Adolf Goetzberger, “High –Efficient Low- Cost Photovoltaics: recent Developments”, Springer series in optical sciences (2008)

 

[Tom.G]

This was found on page 2 of a Google search,: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?start=10&q=Audobert&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5

It points to: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032116000836
Which is behind a pay wall.

Notice that the reference below to Audobert and Stora has a reference or footnote.Technological development trends in Solar‐powered Aircraft Systems
G Abbe, H Smith - Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2016 - Elsevier
… This was followed by advancements in material compositions to improve the photoelectric effect
such as cadmium sulphide by Audobert and Stora in 1932 [5]. A major step in solar technology
was the development of Photovoltaic (PV) technology in the United States in 1954 …
Cited by 22 Related articles All 5 versions

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On pg 3, this:
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1087&context=ece_etds
references:
Vesselinka Petrova-Koch, Rudolf Hezel, Adolf Goetzberger, “High –Efficient Low-Cost Photovoltaics: recent Developments”, Springer series in optical sciences (2008)

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Generally, findings report either no references or report WikiPedia, not really a primary source. A confounding factor is that 'Audobert' is a region in France which has an Archaeologically important cave.

Cheers,
Tom

p.s. Please let us know if you find anything, you've got me curious now.

 

[Cthugha]

Examples in the literature are section 2 here, under 1932 here and table 2 here. which all refer to CdS and Section 2 here which refers to CdSe.

I can only say that the first report on the photovoltaic effect in Cadmium Sulfide seems to be the work by Reynolds in 1954 ("Photovoltaic Effect in Cadmium Sulfide", D.C. Reynolds et al., Phys. Rev. 96, 533 (1954)), so it seems likely that the investigations in 1932 have focused on Cadmium Selenide.

This was found on page 2 of a Google search,: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?start=10&q=Audobert&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5

It points to: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032116000836
Which is behind a pay wall.

Notice that the reference below to Audobert and Stora has a reference or footnote.

This one points to Cleveland et al. entry in the Handbook of Energy mentioned in the post above yours. Unfortunately, this entry only contains a timeline without further references.