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CIGS Photovoltaics

Using both sides of the panel

Nature Energy volume 8, pages 15–16 (2023)Cite this article

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Bifaciality allows the harvest of sunlight from both sides of a solar cell and thereby increases power output, but the efficiency of thin-film devices lags behind that of silicon counterparts. Now, researchers demonstrate a bifacial Cu(In,Ga)Se2-perovskite tandem solar cell with a 28 mW/cm2 power output under front and rear illumination.

Tandem solar cells based on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) and perovskite thin-film technologies have reached 26% efficiency1,2, closing in on silicon-perovskite tandems that have reached efficiencies of around 30% (refs. 3,4). To further improve efficiency and expand the suitability of the technology to agrivoltaics — where semitransparent solar panels are installed above or side-by-side of crops — and building integration, these solar cells can be made bifacial so that they harvest sunlight from both sides of the panel. However, the efficiency of bifacial CIGS is limited by a non-optimal collection of charge carriers from the CIGS layer to the contacts when illuminated from the rear.

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Fig. 1: Characterization of the bifacial CIGS bottom cell.

Adapted from ref. 5, Springer Nature Ltd.

References

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  1. Department of Material Science and Engineering, Division of Solar Cell Technology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Marika Edoff

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  1. Marika Edoff
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Correspondence to Marika Edoff.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Edoff, M. Using both sides of the panel. Nat Energy 8, 15–16 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01181-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01181-9

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