User:Fourmatter/Crystalline silicon

Drafting space for Crystalline silicon

Possible Improvements

• Change wording of section titles that are unclear, e.g. "Not classified as crystalline silicon" can be changed to "Other forms of silicon" or "Other allotropic forms of silicon" or "Other allotropic forms"
• Focus of article heavily biased towards solar cell applications when crystalline silicon is also very important in electronics and other nano fabrication processes. This is mentioned in the lead but not expanded upon later.
• Fix capitalization and punctuation in bulleted lists throughout article done!
• Improve section titles to make them more concise, e.g. " Transformation of amorphous into crystalline silicon"
• Lead section:
  • Fix capitalization in first sentence.
  • Make first sentence more general, about all the applications. Then, move into other applications in the next paragraphs.
  • Need to make decisions about which applications to mention first (solar vs. other applications) since solar is more prevalent/important (indicates it should go first) but also focus of most of the rest of the article (means article would flow better/more logically if it goes last).
  • Add more information about the production and processing of crystalline silicon for different applications. Will need to get more sources for this. Would be good to have an entire paragraph in the lead section about how it's made, what sizes it comes in, etc.
• Add applications section to main body of the article?
• Look for or create new pie chart for market shares of different solar materials
• Overview section:
  • A lot of this information isn't what I would consider part of the overview! In particular, a lot of this is only tangentially related to crystalline silicon and is more focused on solar cells in general.
  • Go through this section more carefully to see if any of it (e.g. the table) should be moved to another page, like the Solar cell page or the Photovoltaics page.
• "Cell technologies" section title should be made more specific, maybe "Solar cell technologies"
• HIIT solar cell section is long. Not sure how many of these sub-sections are necessary when it already has its own article.
• Way too much jargon in the Fabrication of HIIT solar cells section. Need to define all the acronyms used.
• Should the sections describing the allotropes (Mono-silicon and polycrystalline, etc.) be moved further up to be a part of classification? Could have one heading under classification about the allotropic properties, one about use in solar cells, others if needed.
  • In PV classification subsection, add information or at least acknowledgement about the generations?
  • Generations should be moved into the PV classification subheading.
  • May make the most sense to just combine these two sections and sort the examples listed under the PV classification subheading currently to be a part of the generations model.
• Why is table of "Comparison of technical specifications" included in this article? Crystalline silicon isn't even in the table!
  • Not sure if these numbers are up to date
  • Should definitely be moved to one of the other solar cell pages, not sure which one
• Efficiency
  • What is a lab cell, and why is it being capitalized like it's a proper noun? I don't think this is the name of a particular company. After figuring out what this is supposed to mean, update these super old efficiencies.
  • Add the year to the NREL chart! This will make it so much easier to tell when these charts need to be updated.
  • Efficiency section should highlight the high efficiency of crystalline silicon cells, especially HIIT/multi-junction cells.
• Toxicity
  • This section is super important! Definitely necessary to talk about the environmental impacts of these cells. However, there's no source about heavy metals and the general focus seems to be on the solar industry in general, rather than crystalline silicon solar cells in specific.
  • Gather sources to expand this section to include the impacts crystalline silicon in other parts of the semiconductor/electronics industry.
  • Should this section title be changed to environmental impact?
  • Gather sources about the energy costs needed to process this silicon.
  • Gather sources about the environmental impact of mining this silicon.
  • Look for source about heavy metals in production of solar cells. If true, make the focus of this portion of it (could be a subheading) on crystalline silicon in specific, but mention that these practices are common among many sectors of the solar industry (again, if this is true).
    • Found a source for CdTe heavy metals in particular. done!
• Look for source on polycrystalline silicon! Starting with the Allotropes of silicon article might be a good start -- not super long but it does have some sources! done!
• Add dash to section title for "Low temperature-induced crystallization"
  • This section is also very light on sources. Look for more sources!
• High priority change: look for sources on the other uses of crystalline silicon to make the article less biased towards the PV industry. Editing the classification section/finding sources on the allotropes and classification of silicon first may make this easier.
• Locate source for the allotropes figure.

Possible Sources

• New source for acronym (fix broken bare link): from Heterojunction solar cell
• CIGS efficiency 23.35%, $V_{oc}$ 734 mV, $I_{sc}$ 0.0396 A
• 1999 article comparing crystalline silicon and amorphous/thin-film silicon. Backs-up claim that electronics require higher-grade silicon than solar applications and, additionally, states that most of the silicon for the solar industry was rejects from the electronics industry and that solar outpacing that source of lower-quality (and therefore lower cost) crystalline silicon drove up prices. Good source on polycrystalline silicon as well (states the differences in manufacturing techniques). Mentions ribbon-based cells as well.
• 2021 review article, can use as source for the 200 um thickness for traditional cells claim. Detailed timeline of amorphous silicon cell efficiencies.
• 2022 review article that fully explains the generations classification scheme! Says both the definition and enumerates several materials in each category. Definitive source on where perovskites, polycrystalline silicon, and amorphous silicon fall.
• 2022 review article (a different one) with an even more in-depth discussion of the generation classification scheme with more examples. Also, singles-out GaAs from other perovskites to be in 2nd rather than 3rd generation.