Mathematical-modeling of liquid-junction photovoltaic cells: I. Governing equations

Abstract

The equations which govern the liquid-junction photovoltaic cell are presented in the context of a one-dimensionalmathematical model. This model treats explicitly the semiconductor, the electrolyte, and the semiconductor-electrolyteinterface in terms of potentials and concentrations of charged species. The model incorporates macroscopic transportequations in the bulk of the semiconductor and electrolyte, coupled with a microscopic model of the semiconductor-electrolyteinterface. Homogeneous and heterogeneous recombination of electron-hole pairs is included within themodel. Recombination takes place at the semiconductor-electrolyte interface through interfacial sites, which can enhancethe recombination rate. The coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations of the model were posed in finite-differenceform and solved numerically. The results are presented in succeeding papers.