Process diagram of a) a standard three-stage co-evaporation process of cigs and b) a modified three-stage co-evaporation process of low GA doped Cise and Acise. c) Schematic diagrams of the double family Cise SCS structure without Ag and with ag alloys. Credit: Advanced Energy Materials (2025). doi:10.1002/aenm.202500899
The researchers have successfully implemented a Cuinse2 thin film solar cell consisting of copper (Cu), indium (In), and selenium (SE) on a transparent electrode substrate. Additionally, the team has developed “two-faced solar cell technology” that receives sunlight from both the front and back to generate force. This technology can be manufactured at low temperatures, allowing for simpler production processes and can be widely applied to building integrated solar power, agricultural solar power, and high efficiency tandem solar power cells in the future.
The findings can be found in Journal Advanced Energy Materials. The team was led by Daehwan Kim and Shijoon at the Energy & Environmental Technology Department (also associated with interdisciplinary engineering), the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology.
Dual solar cells have been paying considerable attention recently, as cells can absorb light from both the front and back as well as the front and back, generating more power in the same area. To implement these cells, a transparent electrode substrate must be used that allows light to pass through. However, when thin film solar cells were manufactured on transparent electrodes with low heat resistance, it was difficult to achieve good properties. This is because high temperatures are required to manufacture traditional thin film solar cells.
Key researchers at Kim and Sung and Sung have successfully developed composite thin film solar cell technology that operates at temperatures below 420°C and has a narrow band gap. Silver (Ag) was introduced during the process to form Cuinse2 compounds, allowing for high quality compound deposition at low temperatures.
Additionally, we improved the efficiency of the device by inducing a gradient of gallium (GA) at the bottom of the Cuinse2 layer, improving charge transport (carrier delivery) and recombination properties. This allowed the researchers to improve the performance of bifasal CuINSE2 thin film solar cells based on transparent substrates.
As a result, the research team’s narrow gap thin film solar cells on transparent substrates achieved one of the best performances in the world with a front efficiency of 15.3% and back efficiency of 8.44%. They also demonstrated the high efficiency of bifacial performance measurements with bifacial power generation density (BPGD) of 23.1 MW/cm².
“This study offers new possibilities to increase the efficiency of thin film solar cells based on transparent substrates,” Kim and Sung said. “Based on transparent substrates, we will further expand the range of applications for highly efficient bifacial solar cell technology.”
Meanwhile, Kim and Sung participated in the research in the Energy & Environmental Technology Department (also associated with interdisciplinary engineering), and were first authors by PhD Ali Amanat Interdisciplinary Engineering student and Dong Wang Jong, a full-time researcher in the Energy & Environmental Technology Department.
Details: Amanat Ali et al, highly efficient bifial narrowband band Ag-Cuinse2 solar cells, advanced energy materials (2025). doi:10.1002/aenm.202500899
Provided by Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology
Quote: Two-sided thin-film solar cells were collected from https://news/2025-07–bifacial-thin-solar-cells-harness.html on July 21, 2025, from July 21, 2025, so that sunlight from both sides is suppressed from both sides (July 21, 2025)
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