SOLAR CELLS BASED ON GALLIUM ARSENIDE

Solar panels made using gallium arsenide (a compound of gallium and arsenic) are an alternative to traditional silicon solar cells. Gallium arsenide is a semiconductor that has the same solar energy properties as silicon, but is more efficient in terms of performance. Therefore, solar cells based on it have a much higher efficiency (up to 44%). However, such batteries are used very rarely and mainly in specialized sectors (for example, in the space industry). It is very simply explained. The fact is that the main disadvantage of gallium arsenide panels is a very high price. Both the material itself and the manufacturing process are more expensive than their silicon counterparts. In addition, gallium is a rare semiconductor. Therefore, despite the high efficiency and good performance of this type of solar cells, they are not mass produced. This article discusses gallium arsenide based solar cells and their performance.