Large area industrial solar cells on low cost 100% Mc SoG Si substrates: Efficiencies exceeding 16%

ABSTRACT3C-SiC is very attractive due the chance to be grown on large-area, low-cost Si substrates. Moreover, 3C-SiC has higher channel electron mobility with respect to 4H-SiC, interesting property in MOSFET applications. Other application fields where 3C-SiC can play a significant role are solar cells and MEMS-based sensors. In this work, we present a general overview of 3C-SiC growth on Si substrate. The influence of growth parameters, such as the growth rate, on the crystal quality of 3C-SiC films is discussed. The main issue for 3C-SiC development is the reduction of the stacking fault density, which shows an exponential decreasing trend with the film thickness tending to a saturation value of about 1000 cm-1. Some aspect of processing will be also faced with the realization of cantilever for Young modulus calculations and the implantation of Al ions for the study of damaging and recovery of the 3C-SiC crystal.

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Economic pulse electrodeposition for flexible CuInSe2 solar cells

Materials for Renewable and Sustainable Energy ◽

10.1007/s40243-020-00177-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sreekanth Mandati ◽

Prashant Misra ◽

Divya Boosagulla ◽

Tata Naransinga Rao ◽

Bulusu V. Sarada

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Low Cost ◽

Electrode System ◽

Pulse Electrodeposition ◽

Small Scale ◽

Complexing Agents ◽

Large Area ◽

Advanced Technique ◽

Glass Substrates ◽

Energy Applications

Abstract Electrodeposition is one of the leading non-vacuum techniques for the fabrication of CuInSe2 (CIS)-based solar cells. In the present work, pulse electrodeposition, an advanced technique, is utilized effectively for CIS absorber preparation devoid of any additives/complexing agents. An economic pulse electrodeposition is employed for the deposition of Cu/In stack followed by selenization to fabricate CIS absorbers on flexible and glass substrates. The approach uses a two-electrode system suitable for large area deposition and utilizes the fundamentals of pulse electrodeposition with appropriate optimization of parameters to obtain smooth Cu/In precursors. The selenized CIS absorbers are of 1 µm thick while possessing copper-poor composition (Cu/In ≈ 0.9) and tetragonal chalcopyrite phase. The fabricated devices have exhibited a power conversion efficiency of 5.2%. The technique can be further improved to obtain low-cost CIS solar cells which are suitable for various small-scale energy applications.

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Low-cost solar cells based on large-area unconventional silicon

IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices ◽

10.1109/t-ed.1977.18753 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 438-442 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

H. Fischer ◽

W. Pschunder

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Low Cost ◽

Large Area

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Raster Scanning Laser and UV Processing of nanocrystalline TiO2 Films for Sintering in Dye Solar Cells: Device Performance, Throughput and Embodied Energy

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/opl.2012.1092 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 1447 ◽

Author(s):

Girolamo Mincuzzi ◽

Valerio Zardetto ◽

Luigi Vesce ◽

Malte Schulz-Ruhtenberg ◽

Arnold Gillner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Laser Scanning ◽

Low Cost ◽

Standard Procedure ◽

Embodied Energy ◽

Large Area ◽

Nanocrystalline Tio2 ◽

Plastic Substrates ◽

Dye Solar Cells ◽

Uv Lamp

ABSTRACTA crucial step in Dye Solar Cell (DSC) fabrication is the sintering of the TiO2 layer which needs to guarantee good electromechanical bonding between nanoparticles whilst maintaining sufficiently large porosity to yield performing devices. The standard procedure for TiO2 sintering requires firing in an oven at ∼ 500°C. An alternative procedure consists in utilizing laser scanning processing which has the advantageous potential of being noncontact, local, low cost, rapid, selective, automated and scalable. We analyzed and optimised a laser process for the sintering of the TiO2 layers in dye solar cells analyzing temperature profiles, throughput and the embodied energy. The development of electronic and photovoltaic devices on plastic substrates is of considerable interest due to the advantages they bring in terms of flexibility and easy processing for lightweight, low-cost large-area applications. An alternative sintering procedure compatible with flexible substrates and large area processing consists in utilizing a UV lamp. We subjected TiO2 pastes deposited on conductive transparent substrates to UV irradiation. Fully plastic devices fabricated through this method showed efficiencies of 4%.

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Novel low cost chemical texturing for very large area industrial multi-crystalline silicon solar cells

Semiconductor Science and Technology ◽

10.1088/0268-1242/20/9/009 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 20 (9) ◽

pp. 938-946 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

U Gangopadhyay ◽

S K Dhungel ◽

K Kim ◽

U Manna ◽

P K Basu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Crystalline Silicon ◽

Low Cost ◽

Silicon Solar Cells ◽

Large Area ◽

Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

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CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells

MRS Bulletin ◽

10.1557/s088376940003829x ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 18 (10) ◽

pp. 45-47 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

T. Suntola

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Solar Cells ◽

Cadmium Telluride ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Low Cost ◽

Thick Layer ◽

Thin Film Solar Cells ◽

Cdte Thin Film ◽

Large Area ◽

Cell Structures

Cadmium telluride is currently the most promising material for high efficiency, low-cost thin-film solar cells. Cadmium telluride is a compound semiconductor with an ideal 1.45 eV bandgap for direct light-to-electricity conversion. The light absorption coefficient of CdTe is high enough to make a one-micrometer-thick layer of material absorb over 99% of the visible light. Processing homogenous polycrystalline thin films seems to be less critical for CdTe than for many other compound semiconductors. The best small-area CdTe thin-film cells manufactured show more than 15% conversion efficiency. Large-area modules with aperture efficiencies in excess of 10% have also been demonstrated. The long-term stability of CdTe solar cell structures is not known in detail or in the necessary time span. Indication of good stability has been demonstrated. One of the concerns about CdTe solar cells is the presence of cadmium which is an environmentally hazardous material.

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Recent advances in flexible perovskite solar cells

Chemical Communications ◽

10.1039/c5cc03666f ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 51 (79) ◽

pp. 14696-14707 ◽

Cited By ~ 62

Author(s):

B. Susrutha ◽

Lingamallu Giribabu ◽

Surya Prakash Singh

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Solar Cells ◽

Solar Cell ◽

Low Cost ◽

Perovskite Solar Cells ◽

Large Area ◽

Roll To Roll ◽

Recent Developments ◽

Reduced Dimension ◽

Thin Film Photovoltaics

Flexible thin-film photovoltaics facilitate the implementation of solar devices into portable, reduced dimension, and roll-to-roll modules. In this review, we describe recent developments in the fabrication of flexible perovskite solar cells that are low cost and highly efficient and can be used for the fabrication of large-area and lightweight solar cell devices.

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The Fabrication of Large-Area Upgraded Metallurgical Grade Multi-Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells in a Production Line

Materials Science Forum ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.743-744.863 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 743-744 ◽

pp. 863-869

Author(s):

Teng Chen ◽

You Wen Zhao ◽

Zhi Yuan Don ◽

Jun Wang ◽

Tong Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Conversion Efficiency ◽

Material Properties ◽

Production Line ◽

Crystalline Silicon ◽

Low Cost ◽

Open Circuit ◽

Large Area ◽

Photovoltaic Properties ◽

Si Solar Cells

Upgraded metallurgical grade (UMG) silicon has been researched both on the purification methods and its material properties for years, indicating that it is the most promising choice as low-cost feedstock for photovoltaics. In this work, UMG multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) prepared by cold crucible refining and electron beam melting was investigated. Solar cells based on such silicon wafers were fabricated in a 156 x 156 mm2 production line and their photovoltaic properties were characterized. Compared with the conventional mc-Si solar cells fabricated in the same commercial production line, the UMG mc-Si solar cells with two busbars presented higher average open circuit voltage (Voc) and average fill factor (FF), which were 628 mV and 78.6 % separately. Although the UMG mc-Si solar cells showed a lower shot-circuit current density (Jsc) of 32.7 A/cm2 in the average and an early reverse breakdown voltage at around 11 V which was due to higher impurities content. The average conversion efficiency of the UMG mc-Si solar cells reached 16.14 %, and the highest conversion efficiency was up to 16.31 %. In addition, the UMG mc-Si solar cells presented relatively low light induced degradation (LID) due to the material properties. Consequently, in consideration of low cost, our UMG mc-Si solar cells substantially met the requirements of commercial manufacturing and had a great potential application for photovoltaic industry.

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