The photovoltaic effect has been discovered by Edmond Becquerel in 1839. Then it took 115 years to make the first efficient solar cell, with a few watts produced, about 50 years to deploy 3 GW of production capacity worldwide, and only 13 years to reach 300 GW in 2016. 500 GW are expected in 2020, and the TW within the next decade. How did this occur? How does photovoltaics work? What is the physical limit of conversion efficiency? What road map for photovoltaics in the energy transition? This paper aims at providing a review and discussion of these aspects, from the historical background to the state of the art and the emerging devices and concepts.
L'effet photovoltaïque a été découvert par Edmond Becquerel en 1839. Il a fallu 115 ans pour fabriquer la première cellule efficace à hauteur de quelques watts, puis environ 50 ans pour atteindre 3 GW de capacité installée dans le monde, et seulement 13 ans pour atteindre 300 GW en 2016. 500 GW sont attendus en 2020, et plus d'un TW au cours de la prochaine décennie. Comment une telle accélération a-t-elle été possible ? Quels sont les mécanismes de la conversion photovoltaïque ? Son rendement maximum ? Quels scénarios sont établis pour le futur dans le contexte de la transition énergétique ? L'article examinera tous ces aspects, en partant du contexte historique jusqu'à l'état de l'art actuel, en incluant les cellules solaires émergentes et les nouveaux concepts.
Mots-clés : Énergie photovoltaïque, Changement climatique, Cellules solaires, Silicium, Perovskite, Nouveaux concepts
Daniel Lincot 1
@article{CRPHYS_2017__18_7-8_381_0, author = {Daniel Lincot}, title = {The new paradigm of photovoltaics: {From} powering satellites to powering humanity}, journal = {Comptes Rendus. Physique}, pages = {381--390}, publisher = {Elsevier}, volume = {18}, number = {7-8}, year = {2017}, doi = {10.1016/j.crhy.2017.09.003}, language = {en}, }
Daniel Lincot. The new paradigm of photovoltaics: From powering satellites to powering humanity. Comptes Rendus. Physique, Demain l’énergie, Volume 18 (2017) no. 7-8, pp. 381-390. doi : 10.1016/j.crhy.2017.09.003. https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/physique/articles/10.1016/j.crhy.2017.09.003/
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