What is CdTe material?
Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is a stable crystalline compound formed from cadmium and tellurium. It is mainly used as the semiconducting material in cadmium telluride photovoltaics and an infrared optical window. It is usually sandwiched with cadmium sulfide to form a p–n junction solar PV cell.
Which material is used in solar cell fabrication?
Silicon. Silicon is, by far, the most common semiconductor material used in solar cells, representing approximately 95% of the modules sold today.
How are CdTe solar cells made?
Production. The most common CdTe solar cells consist of a p-n heterojunction structure containing a p-doped CdTe layer matched with an n-doped cadmium sulfide (CdS) or magnesium zinc oxide (MZO) window layer. Typical CdTe thin-film deposition techniques include vapor-transport deposition and close-spaced sublimation.
What is the band gap of CdTe?
CdTe is a II–VI compound semiconductor. It is a well-known light absorber. It has band gap of 1.45 eV.
Is CdTe toxic?
CdTe is still a potentially toxic material. But the way it is encapsulated in glass in First Solar panels, Sinha said, sharply limits the possibility of inhalation or ingestion exposure. “The semiconductor material is bonded to a sheet of glass under very high temperature,” Sinha explained.
Is CdTe n type or p type?
They state that undoped CdTe is p-type semiconductor, but addition of In creates n-type material. They define a narrow concentration range over which the CZT transforms from p-type to n-type.
Which material is suitable for solar cell construction and why?
Silicon – The Most Popular Material for Solar Cells
The molecular structure of single-crystal silicon is uniform. This uniformity is ideal for the transfer of electrons efficiently through the material. However, in order to make an effective photovoltaic cell, silicon needs to be “doped” with other elements.
What metals are used in solar panels?
Metals such as cadmium, gallium, germanium, indium, selenium, and tellurium are important mineral materials used in current photovoltaic cell technology.
Why is CdS used in CdTe solar cells?
Intermediate layers such as CdS help in both the growth and electrical properties between the TCO and CdTe. … The CdTe film acts as the primary photoconversion layer and absorbs most visible light within the first micron of material.
What is perovskite made of?
Perovskite is a mineral composed of calcium titanium oxide (CaTiO2) discovered by a Russian scientist, Gustav Rose, in 1839 and the research was further carried out by Russian mineralogist Lev Perovski therefore this mineral was named as Perovskite.
What is cadmium used for in solar panels?
Cadmium telluride (CdTe) photovoltaics describes a photovoltaic (PV) technology that is based on the use of cadmium telluride in a thin semiconductor layer designed to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity.
What is the energy bandgap of gallium arsenide material?
Gallium arsenide (GaAs) has a band gap of 1.42 eV, close to the value giving peak solar cell efficiency.
Who discovered CdTe?
CdTe solar cells were introduced for the first time in 1972, by Bonnet and Raben- horst [1], with a CdS/CdTe heterojunction delivering a 6% efficiency. Since then, thin film CdTe based solar cells have been fabricated with this type of heterojunction until it has been radically changed in the recent years.
Is Silicon amorphous or crystalline?
Amorphous silicon (a-Si) is the non-crystalline form of silicon used for solar cells and thin-film transistors in LCDs. Used as semiconductor material for a-Si solar cells, or thin-film silicon solar cells, it is deposited in thin films onto a variety of flexible substrates, such as glass, metal and plastic.