Scientists at the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) have developed a CIGS solar cell with ultra-thin glass (UTG), an emerging substrate known for its exceptional flexibility and stability.
What are the development prospects of ultra-thin semi-transparent CdTe solar cells?
Outlooks the development prospect of ultra-thin semi-transparent CdTe solar cells in BIPV and tandem cell. Cadmium Telluride thin film solar cell is very suitable for building integrated photovoltaics due to its high efficiency and excellent stability.
Currently, First Solar has successfully applied VTD in industrialized production . VTD is one of the best methods for preparing high-efficiency CdTe solar cells. Presently, First Solar has achieved the highest efficiency in CdTe solar cells through this method . It has also been applied to the preparation of ultra-thin CdTe solar cells.
Why is CdTe thin film solar cell suitable for building integrated photovoltaics?
Cadmium Telluride thin film solar cell is very suitable for building integrated photovoltaics due to its high efficiency and excellent stability. To further reduce the production costs, relieve the scarcity of Tellurium, and apply in building integrated photovoltaics, ultra-thin CdTe photovoltaic technology has been developed.
Of course, we can learn from the development experience of amorphous silicon thin film solar cells to increase the optical path inside the device by using a back reflective layer or texturing on the surface of glass substrate, thus minimizing the absorption loss.
The new cell concept was introduced in the study “ High-efficiency cadmium-free Cu (In,Ga)Se 2 flexible thin-film solar cells on ultra-thin glass as an emerging substrate,” published in the Journal of Alloys and Compounds.
In 2023, First Solar achieved a record efficiency of 22.3 % by incorporating selenium components in the CdTe absorber layer to form a Se-containing absorber layer and substituting Cu doping with As doping . A few months later, the efficiency was improved to 23.1 % by First Solar .