Monolithically integrated flexible Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells and submodules using newly developed structure metal foil substrate with a dielectric layer

Effects of alkali-metal block layer to enhance Na diffusion into Cu(in,Ga)Se2 absorber on flexible solar cells

“…Aluminum (Al) with a 10 mm-thick Al 2 O 3 insulated surface layer as cladding material was laminated onto the SS. Details of the structure are provided in our previous paper [8]. In this article, the substrate is termed a 'metal foil substrate'.…”

“…Moreover, manufacturing CIGS solar cells on flexible substrates is highly attractive because it enables roll-to-roll deposition processing which has the potential of lowering costs and raising productivity compared with conventional in-line deposition processing used for rigid soda-lime glass (SLG) substrates. Furthermore, the low weight of flexible substrates contributes to easy installation [4][5][6][7][8][9].…”

“…Alkali-metals, specifically sodium (Na), have been widely acknowledged as beneficial dopants that contribute to improving p-type conductivity of the CIGS absorber layers and achieving high efficiencies [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Generally, Na was diffused into the CIGS layers from the rigid SLG substrates.…”

“…In these methods, optimization of the AC layer thickness is crucial for cell performance. However, this thickness depends on the quality and uniformity of the substrate material, because on our metal foil substrates [5][6][7][8] this thickness was much larger than that on alkali-free glass substrates [11,14].…”

Ecologic ceramic substrates for CIGS solar cells

“…Record efficiencies of beyond 21.7 % at laboratory scale (small area), 15.9% for large-area and 12-13% for commercialized modules have been achieved [7][8][9][10]. The CIGS solar cells have also been settled on stainless steel [11][12][13] and aluminium sheets [14]. In Table 1 a brief review of the best performance solar cells on different substrates are summarized.…”