User:Matthias Diethelm/Copper indium gallium selenide solar cell

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Conversion efficiency[edit]

Solar cell efficiencies of various technologies as tracked by NREL, with CIGS progress in green

CIGS is mainly used in the form of polycrystalline thin films. The best efficiency achieved as of September 2014 was 21.7%.[1] A team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory achieved 19.9%, a record at the time,[2] by modifying the CIGS surface and making it look like CIS.[3] These examples were deposited on glass, which meant the products were not mechanically flexible. In 2013, scientists at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology developed CIGS cells on flexible polymer foils with a new record efficiency of 20.4%.[4] These display both the highest efficiency and greatest flexibility.

The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory confirmed 13.8% module efficiency of a large-area (meter-square) production panel, and 13% total-area (and 14.2% aperture-area) efficiency with some production modules.[3] In September 2012 the German Manz AG presented a CIGS solar module with an efficiency of 14.6% on total module surface and 15.9% on aperture, which was produced on a mass production facility.[5] MiaSolé obtained a certified 15.7% aperture-area efficiency on a 1m2 production module,[6] and Solar Frontier claimed a 17.8% efficiency on a 900 cm2 module.[7]

Higher efficiencies (around 30%) can be obtained by using optics to concentrate the incident light. The use of gallium increases the optical band gap of the CIGS layer as compared to pure CIS, thus increasing the open-circuit voltage.[3][8] Gallium's relative abundance, compared to indium, lowers costs.

Lab record CIGS efficiencies by substrate (a)
Substrate Glass Steel Aluminium Polymer
Efficiency 22.9% 17.7% 16.2% 20.4%
Institute Solar Frontier (b) Empa Empa Empa
Source: Swissolar, Flisom – presentation November 2014[9]

Note: (a) lab cell with ~0.5 cm2, (b) http://www.solar-frontier.com/eng/news/2017/1220_press.html

  1. ^ "ZSW: ZSW Brings World Record Back to Stuttgart". Archived from the original on 2015-04-24. Retrieved 2015-06-03.
  2. ^ "Characterization of 19.9%-Efficient CIGS Absorbers" (PDF). National Renewable Energy Laboratory. May 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
  3. ^ a b c "The status and future of the photovoltaics industry" (PDF). David E. Carlson Chief Scientist BP Solar 14 March 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
  4. ^ "Empa takes thin film solar cells to a new level – A new world record for solar cell efficiency". Empa. 18 January 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  5. ^ Top 10 World's Most Efficient CI(G)S Modules Archived 2013-01-24 at the Wayback Machine. Solarplaza.com. Retrieved on 2013-02-18.
  6. ^ Miasole. "MiaSolé Achieves 15.7% Efficiency with Commercial-Scale CIGS Thin Film Solar Modules" (PDF). Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  7. ^ Solar Frontier. "Solar Frontier Sets New Efficiency World Record". Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  8. ^ "Solar cell efficiency tables Ver.33" (PDF). National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). Retrieved 10 February 2011.
  9. ^ "Flisom: Flexible PV from Lab to Fab" (PDF). Flisom AG. 4 November 2014. p. 4.
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