Realizzazione di celle solari a film sottile a base di Calcopiriti e Kesteriti a basso costo: CIGS (Cu(In,Ga)Se2) e CZTS (Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4).

Responsabili di progetto

Edmondo Gilioli, Ahmed Ihlal

Accordo

MAROCCO - CNRST - Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique

Bando

CNR/CNRST biennio 2018-2019 2018-2019

Dipartimento

Ingegneria, ICT e tecnologie per l'energia e i trasporti

Area tematica

Ingegneria, ICT e tecnologie per l'energia e i trasporti

Stato del progetto

Nuovo

Proposta di ricerca

The growing demand of electricity to meet basic human needs, while mitigating the effects of climate change by the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions, is nowadays a demanding challenge. Renewable energy sources can play a major role to meet this objective and PV is one of the most attractive technologies. The dramatic cost reductions of PV electricity in the last years, allowed a massive distribution on PV plants; so far, 300 GWp solar PV cumulative power capacity is installed around the world, expecting to reach 900 GWp in 2030 and 3000 GWp by 2050.
Besides, the grid parity is real, in particular where the cost of electricity and the solar irradiation are high. Certainly, Italy and Morocco belong to these countries and both are strongly committed to support and develop renewable sources and PV in particular. Italy signed the Climate Change Conference (COP21, Paris) agreements, aiming to limit the global temperature rise well below 2°C; Morocco hosted the COP22 in 2016.
The most widely used material for solar cells is crystalline silicon. Solar modules based on this material exhibit high power yield and good long-term stability under all climatic conditions. However, TFSC are expected to play a crucial role in emerging fields such as the building/product integration of PV (BIPV & PIPV) or space applications, where the use of light, flexible and unconventional substrates is necessary.
Keeping in mind the main prerequisites (high PV conversion efficiency and low production costs), the most promising materials for TFSC currently investigated are: Chalcopyrite CIGS, Kesterite CZTS and Chalcogenide CdTe based solar cells. The latter will not be taken into consideration in this project, due to its low acceptance for the presence of toxic (Cd) or rare (Te) elements.
- CIGS is a I-III-VI2 semiconductor with formula of Cu(InxGa1-x)Se2 (0

Obiettivi della ricerca

This project aims to optimize the fabrication of cost effective thin film solar cells (TFSC) based on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) and Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTS) absorber materials.
Despite a different degree of technological maturity, CIGS and CZTS share a complex structure, implying long and costly growth processes. The final goal is to deposit high quality films by using cheap, simple and with negligible waste of materials methods, suitable for large area deposition with low capital investment, such as the single-stage pulsed electron deposition (PED, @ IMEM-CNR, Parma) and Electrodeposition (CED @ LMER, Agadir). Owing to the long lasting experience in the field of TFSC, both IMEM-CNR and LMER can complete and characterize the single layers and the final solar cells, gaining lots of information by sharing ideas and results and by exchanging samples to find the best combination of layers/deposition techniques. Beside the optimization of conventional CIGS and CZTS-based TFSCs, the partners will investigate the possibility to develop new concepts/structures, such as superstrate configuration or flexible solar cells.
This ambitious project involves fundamental studies and investigations but aims to give concrete answers to foster the widest diffusion of thin film solar cells in a geographic area where the photovoltaic (PV) market penetration is continuously growing.

Ultimo aggiornamento: 18/01/2025