Effectiveness of flexible CIGS solar cells measured at record 21.4%.

• A group of researchers at Empa has actually pushed the performance of flexible solar cells to a brand-new limitation. Independent measurements disclosed a performance of 21.4 percent when these sorts of solar cells transform light into electrical power. For comparison: the best performance of a non-flexible solar cell constructed from crystalline silicon is reported at 26.7 percent.

The information of the research study success will certainly be presented at the 38th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy and Meeting as well as Exhibition (EU PVSEC) on 7 September 2021 by Romain Carron, group leader busy for Thin Films as well as Photovoltaics headed by Ayodhya N. Tiwari.

High performance flexible solar cells are refined on a polymer movie by a reduced temperature level co-evaporation approach for the development of the thin film Cu( In, Ga) Se2 semiconductor that soaks up the light. Empa researcher Shiro Nishiwaki enhanced the structure of the layer and alkali dopants for achieving efficiency enhancement. The scientists then investigated the effects of combined warm and also illumination direct exposure after the processing of solar cells and found an increase in the solar efficiency, which continues to be stable after a number of months. The solar cell efficiency of 21.38 percent was separately measured at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, Germany.

Setting brand-new records for 22 years.

Ayodhya Tiwari as well as his group are studying on flexible thin movie solar cells for greater than 22 years. With their profound understanding of the technology and also the basic physical processes, they have attained a number of performance records throughout the years. They started with 12.8 percent in 1999, relocated to 14.1 percent (2005 ), 17.6 percent (2010 ), 18.7 percent (2011 ), 20.4 percent (2013) and also 20.8 percent in 2019.

Flexible as well as lightweight solar modules with this technology are particularly matched for applications on roofings as well as exteriors of buildings, greenhouses, transport cars, aircrafts and also mobile electronics. Empa collaborates with Swiss business Flisom for roll-to-roll production of light-weight flexible solar modules for such applications.