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Benjamin Sanchez Lengeling edited CdTe_photovoltaics_PV_is_the__.tex
almost 9 years ago
Commit id: 726ddad5ff1c2b01bad8355d2e92cc829e5fabb5
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CdTe photovoltaics (PV) is the only thin film technology with lower costs ($
W<-1) \$ W^{-1}$) than conventional solar cells made of crystalline silicon in multi-kilowatt systems. In August of 2014, First SolarĀ® was able to accomplish a CdTe solar cell efficiency of 21.5\% \cite{firstsolar2015} while their commercial high volume PV modules have 17.0\% \cite{Sinha_2013}.
The theoretical upper bound of efficiency, the Shockley-Queisser (SQ) limit \cite{Shockley_1961} for a PV with a band gap of 1.49 eV (CdTe) under the standard AM1.5G flat-plate solar spectrum \cite{nreal} is 32.2\%. This is relevant considering that other similar thin film PVs such as GaAs have an relative efficiency $ \zeta_{SQ} = \frac{ \zeta_{real} }{ SQ_{limit} } $ \cite{Vossier_2015}, of $ \zeta_{SQ}= \frac{28.8}{33.1} \approx 0.87 $\cite{Yablonovitch_2012}. CdTe research grade PVs have a value of $ \zeta_{SQ}=0.667 $. and commercial PV modules have $ \zeta_{SQ}=\frac{17.0}{32.2}\approx 0.52 $. There is much room for improvement to make this technology more affordable.