Environmentally friendly heterojunction partners for thin film solar cells.

摘要

Thin film Cu(In,Ga)Se2-based (CIGS) solar cells offer the potential to make photovoltaic electric power generation truly cost-effective for the terrestrial and space power applications. The device structure of a typical CIGS solar cell includes a CdS layer of thickness 0.07-0.1 mum. The focus of this work is to replace CdS with more environmentally benign semiconductor layers. In this work, we merge "green" production methods with a commercially-viable nanoparticle printing process for fabricating Cd-free thin film CIGS photovoltaic devices. The current work employs a low cost chemical spray process to demonstrate the use of alternative buffer layer technology in a large-area production line. Emphasis is placed on achieving acceptable cell performance ratings with advanced materials and cost-lowering production techniques.