How efficient are First Solar panels?
Today, First Solar is producing CdTe modules with 16% efficiency and a manufacturing cost below USD $0.46/Watt. Furthermore, First Solar recently announced that they have produced a thin film PV module with full area efficiency of 18.2%.
Why is CdS used in CdTe solar cells?
A schematic of a typical CdTe solar cell is shown here. Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) layers such as SnO2 or Cd2SnO4 are transparent to visible light and highly conductive to transport current efficiently. Intermediate layers such as CdS help in both the growth and electrical properties between the TCO and CdTe.
What is the highest efficiency solar panel?
Panels built using high-cost IBC cells are currently the most efficient (20-22%) due to the high purity N-type silicon substrate and no losses from busbar shading.
Why are CdTe and CDSE materials not frequently used for fabrication of solar cells?
There are currently several challenges for further making CdS/CdTe thin-film solar cells more competitive: (1) short minority carrier lifetime due to the recombination of electron-hole pairs at the defect centers in CdTe layers and at the interface between CdS and CdTe, (2) insufficient transparency of transparent …
What is the efficiency of a CdTe solar cell?
The record efficiency for a laboratory CdTe solar cell is 22.1% by First Solar, while First Solar recently reported its average commercial module efficiency to be 16.1% at the end of 2015.
What are the benefits of CdTe thin-film solar cells?
The benefits of CdTe thin-film solar cells include: High absorption: Cadmium telluride is a direct-bandgap material with bandgap energy of about 1.45 defined (eV), which is well matched to the solar spectrum and nearly optimal for converting sunlight into electricity using a single junction.
What are CdTe solar cells made of?
The most common CdTe solar cells consist of a p-n heterojunction structure containing a p-doped CdTe layer matched with an n-doped cadmium sulfide (CdS) or magnesium zinc oxide (MZO) window layer. Typical CdTe thin-film deposition techniques include vapor-transport deposition and close-spaced sublimation.