Cadmium telluride and silicon are among the widely used absorber materials in photovoltaic industry. A tandem solar cell of these two can absorb significant portion of solar spectrum to yield high efficiency due to the added voltage of the two solar cells. On basis of low-cost production, a CdTe/Si cell has the potential to produce low-cost and high efficiency tandem PV. The CdTe top cell in a substrate configuration is essential to achieve a tandem between CdTe and Si. A functional CdS/CdTe solar cell in the substrate configuration was fabricated on a Si wafer. Current-Voltage measurements show a diode-like curve with lower J-V parameters compared to standard CdS/CdTe cells. SCAPS simulations were performed to identify possible reasons for poor performance and help improve the device performance.

Solar cells in space experience varying temperatures throughout their lifetime on spacecraft and satellites. At higher temperatures, photovoltaic performance decreases. In multijunction cells, a reduction in open-circuit voltage occurs across each subcell. This voltage-temperature coefficient is crucial for design purposes. The voltage of subcells within multijunction cells has traditionally been difficult to characterize, requiring the use of isotype cells for each subcell. However, the reciprocity relation allows the voltage characteristics of a cell to be correlated with its electroluminescent emission and quantum efficiency, even within a multijunction cell, providing an alternative to the use of isotypes. This research presents the steps and accuracy of this method.

Highly flexible modules using thin 153 cm2 silicon crystalline cells and transparent fluoropolymer foil are demonstrated. The modules can be flexed 200 times around a bend radius of 4 cm without change in efficiency. The silicon crystalline heterojunction solar cells are 65±5 μm-thick with efficiencies up to 18.4%. Cracks in the solar cells and interconnections that are induced by mechanical stress during module bending are examined using electroluminescence. Two interconnection solutions are discussed: ribbons affixed to the busbars using a conductive adhesive, and indium coated wires directly bonded to the cell fingers. Modules using wire interconnection are found to be highly flexible with efficiencies greatly exceeding existing commercial flexible modules using thin films and have potential applications in light-weight modules for building integrated and portable photovoltaic power.

Alternating cells with p-and n-type emitters enables direct series connection of equivalent sides, i.e. front-to-front and back-to-back connection of adjacent cells. The challenge is to match the current of cells with p-and n-type emitters. The electrical properties of silicon heterojunction solar cells with front and rear junctions are remarkably similar. The short-circuit current density mismatch between front and rear junction cells is as low as 0.1 mAcm(-2). The cells are connected using thin indium coated wires. One-cell and two-cells modules were manufactured, and efficiencies up to 21.2% were reached for one-cell modules. Electroluminescence of the two-cells module is a good indication about the quality of the direct series connection between front and rear junction cells.

Magnetic epitaxial (CoFe2O4)0.1(CeO2)0.9 nanocomposite layers were incorporated into superconducting FeSe0.1Te0.9 thin films as either a cap layer or a buffer layer. Both capped and buffered samples show an enhancement of the superconducting property compared to the reference sample without the incorporated layer, while the capped one shows the best pinning properties of all the samples. Specifically for the capped sample, the critical temperature Tc is ~12.5 K, while the self-field critical current density J(c)(sf )increases to as high as 1.20 MA cm(-2) at 4 K. Its J(c)(in-field) value shows a slower decrease with increasing applied magnetic field, with the lowest power-law exponent α values (derived following Jc[formula: see text](μ0H)(-α) by the log(Jc) − log(μ0H) plot) of 0.20, 0.23 and 0.33 at 2 K, 4 K and 8 K, respectively. This nanocomposite capped sample also exhibits a high upper critical field Hc2(0) of 166 T, which indicates its potential in high field applications. This pinning method provides an effective way of enhancing the superconducting property of iron chalcogenide thin film.