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Review
. 2023 Nov 2;9(11):e21622.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21622. eCollection 2023 Nov.

A comprehensive review of flexible cadmium telluride solar cells with back surface field layer

Nur Irwany Ahmad  1   2 , Yap Boon Kar  1   3 , Camellia Doroody  1   3 , Tiong Sieh Kiong  1   3 , Kazi Sajedur Rahman  4 , Muhammad Najib Harif  5 , Nowshad Amin  6
Affiliations
Review

A comprehensive review of flexible cadmium telluride solar cells with back surface field layer

Nur Irwany Ahmad et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Recent advancements in CdTe solar cell technology have introduced the integration of flexible substrates, providing lightweight and adaptable energy solutions for various applications. Some of the notable applications of flexible solar photovoltaic technology include building integrated photovoltaic systems (BIPV), transportation, aerospace, satellites, etc. However, despite this advancement, certain issues regarding metal and p-CdTe remained unresolved. Besides, the fabrication of a full-working device on flexible glass is challenging and requires special consideration due to the unstable morphology and structural properties of deposited film on ultra-thin glass substrates. The existing gap in knowledge about the vast potential of flexible CdTe solar cells on UTG substrates and their possible applications blocks their full capacity utilization. Hence, this comprehensive review paper exclusively concentrates on the obstacles associated with the implementation of CdTe solar cells on UTG substrates with a potential back surface field (BSF) layer. The significance of this study lies in its meticulous identification and analysis of the substantial challenges associated with integrating flexible CdTe onto UTG substrates and leveraging Cu-doped ZnTe as a potential BSF layer to enhance the performance of flexible CdTe solar cells.

Keywords: Back surface field (BSF); Cadmium telluride (CdTe); Energy; Solar cell; Thin films.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The efficiency progress of various thin film solar cells recorded by NREL [4].
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
(a) General structure of CdTe solar cell. The cross-section in scanning electron micrographs. (SEMs) in both (b) superstrate and (c) substrate configuration [22] of CdTe solar cells.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Summary of prospective substrate material used in CdTe solar cells. (a) rigid and (b)ultra-thin glass substrates, (c) metal foil, and (d) polyimide substrates. (The information summarised from Refs. [16,[23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28]]).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
A flexible CdTe solar cell has been developed using a polyimide Kapton foil PV 9102 as the substrate and a Cu-based contact layer [36].
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Efficiency records of flexible CdTe solar cells on UTG substrates.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
(a) Conventional structure of CdTe solar cells and (b) band diagram of metal and p-CdTe.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
(a) Proposed structure of CdTe solar cells and (b) band energy with BSF layer.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
(a) The solar cell structure of standard device (without ZnTe back contact) and ZnTe-based device (with ZnTe back contact) and (b) I–V curve comparison of S3 Black (standard) and S3 black plus (ZnTe-based device). (Data extracted from First solar report [79]).
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
(a) Schematic of nanocrystal solar cells incorporated with ITO/ZnO/CdSe/CdTe/ZnTe:Cu/Au, (b) band alignment of CdTe structure, (c, d) transformation surface morphology based on the annealing process, and (e) band gap shift value according to the variation of Cu [69,90,104].
Fig. 10
Fig. 10
Overview of the challenges of flexible CdTe solar cells.
Fig. 11
Fig. 11
Overview of the strategies of flexible CdTe on UTG substrates.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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