FURI | Summer 2024

Studying the Relationship Between Flexibility and Efficiency of Thin Film CdTe Photovoltaic Devices

This research primarily aims to study the efficiency and flexibility of CdTe-based photovoltaic devices. By varying the thickness of each layer in the device, the electrical performance of the device is expected to change. Plastic deformation in these materials, introducing defects to the material, will likely decrease the solar efficiency of the device. This makes yielding a failure criteria for the simulation purposes. Varying in thickness will change how the stress is distributed when the device undergoes a bending load and will likely change which material yields first and where in the cross-section this happens. ANSYS is used to study this aspect of interest, while SCAPS 1D is used to estimate the solar efficiency of the device. Studying and optimizing flexibility and solar efficiency, this paper intends to understand their relationship better and attempt to design a flexible solar cell while maintaining its efficiency.