Cu(In,Ga)Se$_{\bf 2}$ Thin-Film Solar Cells and Modules—A Boost in Efficiency Due to Potassium
| Autor: | Stephan Buecheler, P. Blösch, Benjamin Bissig, Fabian Pianezzi, Ayodhya N. Tiwari, Patrick Reinhard, Shiro Nishiwaki, Adrian Chirila |
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| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Materials science
business.industry Energy conversion efficiency Hybrid solar cell Quantum dot solar cell engineering.material Condensed Matter Physics Copper indium gallium selenide solar cells Electronic Optical and Magnetic Materials Monocrystalline silicon Polycrystalline silicon Photovoltaics engineering Optoelectronics Wafer Electrical and Electronic Engineering business |
| Zdroj: | IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. 5:656-663 |
| ISSN: | 2156-3403 2156-3381 |
| DOI: | 10.1109/jphotov.2014.2377516 |
| Popis: | Thin-film solar cells based on the chalcopyrite Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) absorber material show high potential for further cost reduction in photovoltaics. Compared with polycrystalline silicon (p-Si) wafer technology, thin-film technology has inherent advantages due to lower energy and material consumption during production but has typically shown lower conversion efficiency. However, in the past two years, new scientific insights have enabled the processing of CIGS solar cells with efficiencies up to 21%, surpassing the p-Si wafer value of 20.4% efficiency for the first time. Now several research groups report record cell efficiency values above 20% using different deposition processes and buffer layers. The presence of potassium was observed in many CIGS devices over the years, but it is only very recently that differences with Na have started being taken into full consideration for device processing and that K was added intentionally to the absorber. In this study, previous reports showing the presence of potassium are reviewed and discussed in more detail. Furthermore, on a scale-up perspective, additional progress has also taken place with CIGS minimodules achieving efficiency up to almost 19% and where further increase can be expected in the near future with the improvements induced by the use of potassium. This shows that the CIGS technology is continuously progressing not only on scientific level but on technological level as well. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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