CIGS - Efficiences near 16%
Shigeru Niki (Leader; concurrently, Deputy Director of Research Center for Photovoltaics), Shogo Ishizuka (Research Scientist) et al., of the Thin Film Compound Semiconductor Team, Research Center for Photovoltaics (Director: Michio Kondo), the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; President: Tamotsu Nomakuchi) have demonstrated the world s highest photovoltaic energy conversion efficiency among monolithically integrated flexible solar cell submodules (independently certified efficiency) of 15.9 % (aperture area: 75.7 cm2) using a CIGS thin film (a solar cell material). Lightweight and flexible solar cells are attracting attention as a key technology for wider use of photovoltaic power generation; we can expect wider applications because they can be installed even at locations where current solar cell panel modules cannot be installed. However, it was extremely difficult to obtain photovoltaic energy conversion efficiency higher than 10 % in a flexible solar cell module of an integrated structure. We have worked on the technical challenges of alkali addition control and integration processes, and succeeded in drastically enhancing the photovoltaic energy conversion efficiency of an integrated-type flexible CIGS solar cell using a submodule-size substrate of the practical use level. The result of this study will be published in the 57th Spring Meeting, 2010, of The Japan Society of Applied Physics, to be held at Shonan Campus, Tokai University, on March 17–20, 2010, and in the 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference to be held in Hawaii, USA, on June 20–25, 2010.
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| Integrated-type flexible CIGS solar cell modules and lighting LEDs powered by them |
