Researchers have succeeded in identifying a technique that makes cadmium, selenium and telluride (CdSeTe) solar cells more efficient than silicon cells.
But silicon cell modules are little more than 20% efficient in converting sunlight into electricity, and their production is relatively expensive and complicated. Efforts to lower technology costs relative to yield therefore include different materials or combinations of materials. One such mix is cadmium, selenium and telluride, abbreviated as CdSeTe and spoken colloquially as «CadTel.»
«CadTel makes up only about 5% of the photovoltaics market, but it has significant potential,» says Arthur Onno, an assistant research professor with the Holman Research Group in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. «For example, the absorbers are approximately 40 times thinner than those in silicon cells. Also, CadTel cells can be applied directly onto the front glass of a module through a more efficient production process called vapor transport deposition, which is the not the case for silicon. These differentiations can significantly change the manufacturing and cost structures for solar panels.»
However, current CdSeTe devices display poorly understood voltage deficits that compromise their performance. Onno says the research community working with CdSeTe lacks the tools and techniques necessary to examine voltage losses and guide optimization in ways that are commonplace for improving silicon-based solar cells.
«It means issues are often associated with ‘this part’ or ‘that part’ of a device without any clear quantification of the losses or the mechanisms at play,» Onno says. «It’s sort of ‘flying blind,’ so there is a real opportunity to bring important contributions to this field.»
To seize that opportunity, Onno has been running a three-year project to develop a means of understanding why CdSeTe solar cell voltages are not higher — and thereby illuminate the way forward to improved performance.
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Materials provided by Arizona State University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.