Development of Near-Infrared CI(G)S Solar Cells for Tandem Applications (R-11525)

The essence of this work is a take on development of rigid and flexible NIR tuned CIGS solar cells, as the bottom cell of a thin film tandem PV device, and offering resolution to encountered challenges. Such high performing device could then (potentially) present an environmentally friendly, aesthetically considerate, and economically reasonable solution to several modern applications, e.g., building, vehicle, and infrastructure integrated PV systems. The key focus here is finding an optimal fabrication route for a low bandgap CI(G)S absorber layer via an industrially viable technique. Such is supplemented by exploring possible improvements through alkali inclusion and surface roughness treatments. The research enjoys an extensive experimental approach, organized within a design of experiment framework, and is complemented with a range of advanced characterization methods.

Keywords:Low bandgap CIGS, Near Infra-red, Tandem PV

Disciplines:Nanofabrication, growth and self assembly, Photodetectors, optical sensors and solar cells, Nanomaterials