Integration of buildings with third-generation photovoltaic solar cells: a review

Abstract

Clean-energy technologies have been welcomed due to environmental concerns and high fossil-fuel costs. Today, photovoltaic (PV) cells are among the most well-known technologies that are used today to integrate with buildings. Particularly, these cells have attracted the attention of researchers and designers, combined with the windows and facades of buildings, as solar cells that are in a typical window or facade of a building can reduce the demand for urban electricity by generating clean electricity. Among the four generations that have been industrialized in the development of solar cells, the third generation, including dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and perovskite, is used more in combination with the facades and windows of buildings. Due to the characteristics of these cells, the study of transparency, colour effect and their impact on energy consumption is considerable. Up to now, case studies have highlighted the features mentioned in the building combination. Therefore, this paper aims to provide constructive information about the practical and functional features as well as the limitations of this technology, which can be used as a reference for researchers and designers.

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Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGSe) thin-film solar cells present an opportunity for flexible, tandem, or semitransparent applications, together with easy and cheap manufacturing for large-area modules due to milder processing temperatures compared to silicon solar cells. [1][2][3][4] This technology has been widely studied because CIGSe can be prepared by several methods that give high control over its properties, notably its tunable bandgap (1.0-1.7 eV), [5,6] and high absorption coefficient (>10 5 cm À1 ) [5,6] with a record power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 23.4% achieved by SolarFrontier. [7] A key component in CIGSe solar cells is the buffer layer, which forms the chargeseparating pn-junction with the absorber and provides a good electrical and optical interface with the front contact layers, ensuring charge carrier transport, and minimal interface recombination.

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