Introduction to new trends on thin film photovoltaic technologies

Introduction to new trends on thin film photovoltaic technologies

Edgardo Saucedo

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain.

Photovoltaics (PV) is leading the way toward the necessary and inevitable transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies with evermore diversity in technologies and opportunities for implementation. Second and third-generation PV have advanced remarkably in the past 10 years, with exciting developments in thin film chalcogenides, dye-sensitized solar cells (indoor applications), organic photovoltaics (non-fullerene acceptors), and hybrid halide perovskite solar cells (high efficiency). These advances allow new designs for product-integrated systems, including IoT (internet-of-things), BIPV (building-integrated PV), VIPV (vehicle-integrated PV), and many more. These new systems require a detailed understanding of the fundamental processes determining performance, stability and lifetime, which include detailed understanding of the physics and chemistry from molecular to solid-state systems.

In this tutorial course, we aim to provide an overview of the fundamentals and concepts that govern the performance of thin-film PV. The course will focus first on introductory concepts that are relevant to understand the latest progresses of thin film PVs, including the physics mechanisms behind photovoltaic conversion. The second part will be dedicated to conventional and emerging thin film chalcogenide technologies, including CdTe, CIGS, kesterite and Sb₂Se₃, etc. focused in the very last progresses on these technologies. The third part will be centred in hybrid and organic PV technologies, including perovskites, dye sensitized and organic solar cells. The last part of the course will describe the most advanced application of the previously mentioned technologies, including ultra-high efficiency tandem concepts, low-intensity illumination applications (indoor, IoT), BIPV, BAPV, VIPV, etc.