Flexible and transparent thin-film light-scattering photovoltaics about fabrication and optimization for bifacial operation

Abstract

Flexible and transparent thin-film silicon solar cells were fabricated and optimized for building-integrated photovoltaics and bifacial operation. A laser lift-off method was developed to avoid thermal damage during the transfer of light-scattering structures onto colorless polyimide substrates and thus enhance front-incidence photocurrent, while a dual n-type rear window layer was introduced to reduce optical losses, facilitate electron transport for rear incidence, and thus enhance performance during bifacial operation. The introduction of the window layer increased the rear-to-front power conversion efficiency ratio to ~86%. The optimized bifacial power conversion efficiency for front and rear irradiances of 1 and 0.3 sun, respectively, equaled 6.15%, and the average transmittance within 500–800 nm equaled 36.9%. Additionally, the flexible and transparent solar cells fabricated using laser lift-off exhibited good mechanical reliability (i.e., sustained 500 cycles at a bending radius of 6 mm) and were therefore suitable for building-integrated photovoltaics.

Harnessing solar power with aesthetic innovation: An in‐depth study on spherical and hemispherical photovoltaic configurations

“…8,20 Flexible and transparent thin-film silicon solar cells have been meticulously engineered and refined, catering specifically to their integration within building structures, as well as for bifacial operational purposes. 21 Edmund et al 22 proposed a newly rooftop building-integrated PV design has the potential to meet 49.27% of a building's energy demands and reduce CO 2 emissions by 20,155.32 tones throughout the PV system's lifespan. Flexible floating PV systems were successfully fabricated using commercially available PV modules and closed-cell foams following opensource designs.…”

Fabrication of ZnO/CuBr1-x I x microstructural transparent solar cells with buffer layer

“…Although TSCs absorbing visible light and some TSCs absorbing NIR light exhibit high power conversion efficiency, they cannot be installed on windows owing to their low transmittances (less than 70%). [2][3][4][5][6] UV absorbing TSCs have high transmittance in the visible region owing to their wide band gap. However, UV light-absorbing TSCs are expensive owing to the cost of the materials and fabrication processes used, or UV lightabsorbing TSCs exhibit low ideal efficiency because the band gap is too wide for effective UV absorption.…”

Novel fabrication techniques for ultra-thin silicon based flexible electronics

“…When hydrogen atoms bond with a-Si, they attach to the dangling bonds present in a-Si, resulting in the formation of a-Si:H. This process reduces defect density and improves electron mobility, making a-Si:H suitable for various optoelectronic devices [95]. Furthermore, the processing temperature is below 250 • C, since a-Si is typically deposited through the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process [114,115]. Single-crystalline Si, poly-Si, and a-Si:H are distinguished by their crystal phases and find diverse applications based on their mobility characteristics.…”

“…Additionally, there can be challenges in generating device arrays across large areas [135]. The bottom-up approaches comprise CVD [115,[173][174][175], physical vapor deposition (PVD) [176], excimer laser annealing [106,107], aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) [177][178][179], and vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) [180][181][182][183].…”