Journal Home Online First Current Issue Archive For Authors Journal Information 中文版

Strategic Study of CAE >> 2018, Volume 20, Issue 3 doi: 10.15302/J-SSCAE-2018.03.010

Research on the Development of Flexible Solar Cells

1. Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China;

2. Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710119, China

Funding project:CAE Advisory Project “Strategic Research on the Technological Trend and System of the Energy Technology Revolution in China” (2015-ZD-09); Project of Knowledge Innovation Engineering (Y261261606); the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA17040506) Received: 2018-05-28 Revised: 2018-05-31 Available online: 2018-09-04 15:38:29.000

Next Previous

Abstract

Flexible solar cells could be applied in fields such as satellites, airships, drones, individual soldier equipment, building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), and wearable smart devices, which indicates great prospects. This paper introduces cell structures, fabrication methods and current statuses of four types of flexible solar cells respectively, including the flexible silicon thin film solar cell, the flexible CdTe solar cell, the flexible CIGS solar cell, and the flexible perovskite solar cell. This paper also analyses the key issue of efficiency improvement and the main problems in the industrialization of the flexible solar cells. Ultimately, the paper proposes suggestions from aspects of substrate development, efficiency improvement and industrial fabrication.

Figures

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

Fig. 9

Fig. 10

References

[ 1 ] Pagliaro M, Ciriminna R, Palmisano G. Flexible solar cells [J]. ChemSusChem, 2008, 1(11): 880–891.

[ 2 ] Kojima A, Teshima K, Shirai Y, et al. Organometal halide perovskites as visible-light sensitizers for photovoltaic cells [J]. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2009, 131(17): 6050–6051. link1 link2

[ 3 ] Yan B, Yue G, Sivec L, et al. Innovative dual function nc-SiOx:H layer leading to a >16 % efficient multi-junction thin-film silicon solar cell [J]. Applied Physics Letters, 2011, 99(11): 860. link1 link2

[ 4 ] Yan B, Yang J, Guha S. Amorphous and nanocrystalline silicon thin film photovoltaic technology on flexible substrates [J]. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology a Vacuum Surfaces & Films, 2012, 30(4):04D108-104D108-110. link1 link2

[ 5 ] Banerjee A, Liu F S, Beglau D, et al. 12.0% efficiency on large-area, encapsulated, multijunction nc-Si:H-Based solar cells [J]. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, 2012, 2(2): 104–108.

[ 6 ] Chinese Academy of Sciences. China’s discipline development strategy-photochemistry [M]. Beijing: China Science Publishing & Media Ltd., 2018. Chinese.

[ 7 ] Haug F J, S?derstr?m T, Python M, et al. Development of micromorph tandem solar cells on flexible low-cost plastic substrates [J]. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells, 2009, 93(6–7): 884–887. link1 link2

[ 8 ] Soderstrom T, Haug F J, Terrazzoni-Daudrix V, et al. Optimization of amorphous silicon thin film solar cells for flexible photovoltaics [J]. Journal of Applied Physics, 2008, 103(11): 27–33. link1 link2

[ 9 ] Marins E, Warzecha M, Michard S, et al. Flexible n-i-p thin film silicon solar cells on polyimide foils with textured ZnO:Ga back reflector [J]. Thin Solid Films, 2014, 571(A): 9–12. link1 link2

[10] Liu Y, Rath J K, Schropp R E I. Development of micromorph tandem solar cells on foil deposited by VHF-PECVD [J]. Surface & Coatings Technology, 2007, 201: 9330–9333. link1 link2

[11] Li H, Werf C H M V D, Borreman A, et al. Flexible a-Si:H/ncSi:H tandem thin film silicon solar cells on plastic substrates with i -layers made by hot-wire CVD [J]. Physica Status Solidi (RRL) - Rapid Research Letters, 2008, 2(4): 157–159.

[12] Fernández S, Santos J D, Munuera C, et al. Effect of argon plasma-treated polyethylene terepthalate on ZnO:Al properties for flexible thin film silicon solar cells applications [J]. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells, 2015, 133: 170–179. link1 link2

[13] Başol B M, Kapur V K, Halani A, et al. Copper indium diselenide thin film solar cells fabricated on flexible foil substrates [J]. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells, 1993, 29(2): 163–173. link1 link2

[14] Niki S, Contreras M, Repins I, et al. CIGS absorbers and process- es [J]. Progress in Photovoltaics Research & Applications, 2010, 18(6): 453–466.

[15] Hartmann M, Schmidt M, Jasenek A, et al. Flexible and light weight substrates for Cu(In,Ga)Se/sub 2/ solar cells and modules [C]. IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2002: 638–641. link1 link2

[16] Yagioka T, Nakada T. Cd-free flexible Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells with ZnS(O,OH) buffer layers on Ti foils [J]. Applied Physics Express, 2009, 2(7): 072201. link1 link2

[17] Penndorf J, Winkler M, Tober O. CuInS2 thin film formation on a Cu tape substrate for photovoltaic applications [J]. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells, 1998, 53(3–4): 285–298. link1 link2

[18] Contreras M A, Egaas B, Ramanathan K, et al. Progress toward 20 % efficiency in Cu (In, Ga) Se2 polycrystalline thin-film solar cells [J]. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and applications, 1999, 7(4): 311–316. link1 link2

[19] Pianezzi F, Chiril A, Blosch P, et al. Electronic properties of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells on stainless steel foils without diffusion barrier [J]. Progress in Photovoltaics Research & Applications, 2012, 20(3): 253–259.

[20] Kessler F, Herrmann D, Powalla M. Approaches to flexible CIGS thin-film solar cells [J]. Thin Solid Films, 2005, 480(3): 491–498. link1 link2

[21] Chiril? A, Buecheler S, Pianezzi F, et al. Highly efficient Cu(In,- Ga)Se2 solar cells grown on flexible polymer films [J]. Nature Materials, 2011, 10(11): 857–861. link1 link2

[22] Hodges D R. Development of CdTe thin film solar cells on flexible foil substrates [D]. Florida: University of South Florida (Doctoral dissertation), 2009.

[23] Ferekides C S, Balasubramanian U, Mamazza R, et al. CdTe thin film solar cells: Device and technology issues [J]. Solar Energy, 2004, 77(6): 823–830. link1 link2

[24] Xiao L X, Zou D C. Perovskite solar cells [M]. Bejing: Peking University Press, 2016. Chinese.

[25] Feng J, Yang Z, Yang D, et al. E-beam evaporated Nb2O5 as an effective electron transport layer for large flexible perovskite solar cells [J]. Nano Energy, 2017, 36: 1–8. link1 link2

[26] Giacomo F D, Zardetto V, D’Epifanio A, et al. Flexible perovskite photovoltaic modules and solar cells based on atomic layer deposited compact layers and UV-irradiated TiO2 scaffolds on plastic substrates [J]. Advanced Energy Materials, 2015, 5(8): 1–9. link1 link2

[27] Kim B J, Dong H K, Lee Y Y, et al. Highly efficient and bending durable perovskite solar cells: Toward a wearable power source [J]. Energy & Environmental Science, 2015, 8(3): 916–921. link1

[28] Yang D, Yang R, Zhang J, et al. High efficiency flexible perovskite solar cells using superior low temperature TiO2 [J]. Energy & Environmental Science, 2015, 8(11): 3208–3214.

[29] Yang D, Yang R, Ren X, et al. Hysteresis-suppressed high-efficiency flexible perovskite solar cells using solid-state ionic-liquids for effective electron transport [J]. Advanced Materials, 2016, 28(26): 5206–5213. link1 link2

[30] Wang C, Guan L, Zhao D, et al. Water vapor treatment of low-temperature deposited SnO2 electron selective layers for efficient flexible perovskite solar cells [J]. Acs Energy Letters, 2017, 2(9): 2118–2124. link1 link2

[31] Roldáncarmona C, Malinkiewicz O, Soriano A, et al. Flexible high efficiency perovskite solar cells [J]. Energy & Environmental Science, 2014, 7(3): 994–997. link1 link2

[32] Docampo P, Ball J M, Darwich M, et al. Efficient organometal trihalide perovskite planar-heterojunction solar cells on flexible polymer substrates [J]. Nature Communications, 2013, 4(7): 2761. link1 link2

[33] You J, Hong Z, Yang Y M, et al. Low-temperature solution-processed perovskite solar cells with high efficiency and flexibility [J]. Acs Nano, 2014, 8(2): 1674. link1 link2

[34] Lee M, Jo Y, Kim D, et al. Flexible organo-metal halide perovskite solar cells on a Ti metal substrate [J]. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2015, 3(8): 4129–4133. link1 link2

[35] Troughton J, Bryant D, Wojciechowski K, et al. Highly efficient, flexible, indium-free perovskite solar cells employing metallic substrates [J]. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2015, 3(17): 9141–9145.

[36] Wang X, Li Z, Xu W, et al. TiO2 nanotube arrays based flexible perovskite solar cells with transparent carbon nanotube electrode [J]. Nano Energy, 2015, 11: 728–735. link1 link2

[37] Qiu L B, Deng J, Lu X, et al. Integrating perovskite solar cells into a flexible fiber [J]. Angewandte Chemie, 2014, 53(39): 10425– 10428. link1 link2

Related Research