Abstract
Micro-concentrator solar cells offer an attractive way to further enhance the efficiency of planar-cell technologies while saving absorber material. Here, two laser-based bottom-up processes for the fabrication of regular arrays of CuInSe2 and Cu(In,Ga)Se2 microabsorber islands are presented, namely one approach based on nucleation and one based on laser-induced forward transfer. Additionally, a procedure for processing these microabsorbers to functioning micro solar cells connected in parallel is demonstrated. The resulting cells show up to 2.9% efficiency and a significant efficiency enhancement under concentrated illumination.
Highlights
In the field of renewable energies, the largest growth by far on a global scale in 2015/2016 took place in photovoltaics
We provide an overview about research carried out on micro-concentrator solar cells – a new cell concept that has been emerging in recent years – using Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) as absorber material
The promising new solar cell concept of micro Concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) was addressed in this review using CISe and CIGSe microabsorbers
Summary
In the field of renewable energies, the largest growth by far on a global scale in 2015/2016 took place in photovoltaics. The electric back contact (molybdenum) covered with the highly-efficient light-absorber (CIGSe) on top is deposited on a carrier material (glass). While these studies show the efficiency potential of the micro-concentrator concept for CIGSe solar cells, the aspect of material saving was not considered in the chosen top-down approaches.
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