Chalcogenide photovoltaic solar cells of special interest

Conference · Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988 · Phosphorus and Sulfur and the Related Elements; (UK)

OSTI ID:5232641

Champness, C H ^[1]

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1. McGill Univ., Montreal, Quebec (Canada)

A brief review is given of those semiconducting selenides and tellurides that appear suitable for the absorber layer of a photovoltaic solar cell, with energy gaps in the range 1 to 2 eV. Furthermore, to obtain a lower cost cell, the semiconductor is also required to be used in the form of a thin polycrystalline film, necessitating a high optical absorption coefficient in the material. At the present time the two best chalcogenides meeting these requirements are the compounds CuInSe{sub 2} and CdTe, both of which have been used in polycrystalline thin film structures with CdS, as the window layer, yielding conversion efficiencies of over 10%. They have also demonstrated very good chemical stability.

• OSTI ID: 5232641
• Report Number(s): CONF-8708173-; CODEN: PREED
• Journal Information: Phosphorus and Sulfur and the Related Elements; (UK), Vol. 38:3-4; Conference: 5. international symposium on the chemistry of selenium and tellurium, Oak Ridge, TN (USA), 24-28 Aug 1987; ISSN 0308-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
SELENIDES
REVIEWS
SOLAR CELLS
EFFICIENCY
TELLURIDES
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
CHALCOGENIDES
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
DOCUMENT TYPES
EQUIPMENT
MATERIALS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
SELENIUM COMPOUNDS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
TELLURIUM COMPOUNDS
140501* - Solar Energy Conversion- Photovoltaic Conversion