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Cadmium telluride solar cells: Record-breaking voltages

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The performance of CdTe solar cells — cheaper alternatives to silicon photovoltaics — is hampered by their low output voltages, which are normally well below the theoretical limit. Now, record voltages of over 1 V have been reported in single-crystal CdTe heterostructure solar cells, which are close to those of benchmark GaAs cells.

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Figure 1: Structures of CdTe solar-cell devices.

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Correspondence to Jonathan D. Poplawsky.

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Poplawsky, J. Cadmium telluride solar cells: Record-breaking voltages. Nat Energy 1, 16021 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2016.21

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