Cost-Effective Solar Cell Design with Enhanced Efficiency
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Summary
Problems
The high cost and complexity of manufacturing solar cells, particularly due to expensive materials and additional processing steps required for efficient energy conversion, hinder the widespread adoption of cost-effective and high-volume production methods.
Innovation solutions
A material structure for solar cells is developed, where electrical contacts are formed using a first metal (molybdenum) with low resistivity and good adhesion, and a second metal (such as copper) for improved reflectivity, combined with a passivation layer to reduce recombination losses, allowing for efficient charge transfer and simplified manufacturing.
TRIZ Analysis
Specific contradictions:
General conflict description:
Principle concept:
If a back side metal contact is used to provide efficient contacting to the light absorbing layer, then electrical contact efficiency is improved, but charge carrier capture and light absorption by the metal contact increase, reducing solar cell efficiency
Why choose this principle:
A dielectric layer is introduced as an intermediary between the metal contact and the light absorbing layer. This dielectric layer allows electrical contact while preventing charge carrier capture and reducing light absorption by the metal, thereby resolving the contradiction between contact efficiency and energy loss
Principle concept:
If a back side metal contact is used to provide efficient contacting to the light absorbing layer, then electrical contact efficiency is improved, but charge carrier capture and light absorption by the metal contact increase, reducing solar cell efficiency
Why choose this principle:
The contact structure is segmented into multiple functional layers: a metal contact layer for electrical conduction, a dielectric layer for protection and optical management, and selective contact regions. This segmentation allows each layer to perform its specific function optimally without interfering with others
Application Domain
Data Source
AI summary:
A material structure for solar cells is developed, where electrical contacts are formed using a first metal (molybdenum) with low resistivity and good adhesion, and a second metal (such as copper) for improved reflectivity, combined with a passivation layer to reduce recombination losses, allowing for efficient charge transfer and simplified manufacturing.
Abstract
The present invention relates to a material structure for a solar cell and a method for manufacturing the material structure. A solar cell comprising the material structure is also disclosed. The material structure (100) comprising, a light absorbing layer (102) being a semiconductor material, a metal layer (104), a passivation layer (106) arranged in between the light absorbing layer (102) and the metal layer (104), the passivation layer (106) comprising a plurality of electrical contacts (108), the electrical contacts (108) extending from a top surface (110) to a bottom surface (112) of the passivation layer (106) such that the electrical contacts (108) are in galvanic contact with the light absorbing layer (102) and the metal layer (104), wherein the electrical contacts (108) are formed by a first metal and the metal layer (104) is formed by a second metal, the second metal being different from the first metal.