Semiconductors exhibit heightened sensitivity to light due to their ability to promote charge into the conduction band when photons with sufficient energy are absorbed. This property is particularly utilized in photovoltaic cells, where doping techniques allow for tailored sensitivity across specific wavelengths, from near-infrared to ultraviolet. Unlike insulators, semiconductors can be engineered to enhance their light absorption capabilities, making them ideal for applications in solar energy. The discussion also highlights the potential of organic photovoltaics and innovative designs for integrating solar technology into everyday materials.
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Thankyou dude , do you have any links for the "conduction bands" and the process of doping to alter a semiconductors properties to increase sensitivity.Also if I'm grasping this generally , semiconductors are able to be doped in a specific way that insulators along with conductors lack.Thus this allows specific photons to be absorbed more readily which displace a photo electric current?hbarover2 said:A solid state issue. Photons entering the doped semiconductor junction have sufficient energy to promote charge into the conduction band.
With pin diodes the doping can be tailored to make the semiconductor sensitive in specific bands from the near IR into the UV.
Can't do that in insulators. Conductors like cesium make good photo-injectors but that is a surface work function issue.
Are you interested in organic photovoltaics? I wonder how that research is going? Promising technology there. Wouldn't it be cool if some clever gent or lady could design and market an inexpensive roof shingle with a flexible integrated organic photovoltaic, which interconnect in some simple way like LEGO, and still keeps the weather out.
Every house in America goes green. Entrepreneurial windfall $$$$