Toward microscale Cu„In,Ga...Se2 solar cells for efficient conversion and optimized material usage: Theoretical evaluation

Myriam Paire (1) , Laurent Lombez (1) , Jean Francois Guillemoles (1) , Daniel Lincot (1)

1 IRDEP - Institut de Recherche et Développement sur l'Energie Photovoltaïque

We develop a model to predict the performances of microscale CuIn,GaSe2 CIGS solar cells under concentrated sunlight, based on the study of the influence of the window spread sheet resistance, which is the first limiting factor for concentration on CIGS solar cells. This model can be used to extract the value of the sheet resistance from simple current-voltage or electroluminescence measurements. The scaling benefits associated with the operation of microscale CIGS solar cells are studied. The optimum concentration ratio, linked to the best efficiency, is calculated for different cell sizes. It is predicted that an increase from 20% efficiency, for current CIGS solar cells under 1 sun illumination, up to 30% efficiency can be expected for microscale cells under concentrated sunlight.

Mots clés: photovoltaics; microscale; sheet resistance

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Myriam Paire, Laurent Lombez, Jean Francois Guillemoles, Daniel Lincot. Toward microscale Cu„In,Ga...Se2 solar cells for efficient conversion and optimized material usage: Theoretical evaluation. Journal of Applied Physics, 2010, 108, pp.034907. ⟨10.1063/1.3460629⟩. ⟨hal-00569363⟩