The new method reportedly avoids issues with flexible cells, such as potassium diffusion from the glass substrate into the CIGS light-absorbing layer. This can be a significant headache for tandem cell producers as it introduces defects into the CIGS absorber.
Durable and efficient
The tandem cell also showed “excellent” durability when tested under standard illumination conditions. “After conducting 100,000 bending cycles, the solar cells maintained 97.7% of their initial efficiency,” KIER said.
“The power-to-weight ratio of the fabricated solar cell is approximately 10 times higher than that of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells, making it highly promising for applications in fields that require ultralight solar modules, such as building exteriors, vehicles, and aerospace,” Kihwan Kim, one of the authors of the study.