Invited Speech:

Industrialization of CIGS-based Flexible Solar Cells

Dr. Jiakuan Zhu General Manager Shine Techology, Zhejiang, China

 

Date: 12 Dec 2016 (Mon)
Time: 3:00 - 3:30pm
Venue: TY Wong Hall, 5/F, Ho Sin Hang Engineering Building, CUHK

 

Abstract:

Flexible solar cells have unique features such as light-weight, bendability, high portability, tailorability, and excellent adaptability to various personalized products. These features make it possible to integrated solar panels into existing buildings, fabrics, tents and consumer electronic devices. A 20.4% world record efficiency on flexible solar cell has been achieved by EMPA, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, which is based on CIGS-based thin film solar cell. Such major advances realized in academic laboratories are currently in the process of being commercialized by start-up companies financed by the inventors. The technology comprises a specific design of the solar panel structure and a corresponding roll-to-roll manufacturing process. The panel structure depends on the substrate material used in the solar cell. For solar cells with metal substrates, modules are fabricated by cutting, sorting and interconnecting individual solar cells. For those with plastic substrates, monolithic integration can be achieved by laser scribing tools, which leads to significant manufacturing cost reduction and is more suitable for roll-to-roll equipment. In this presentation, I will first introduce the typical structures used in CIGS-based flexible solar cells. Then, the major obstacles in the industrialisation of CIGS-based flexible solar cells will be discussed. Finally, flexible solar module manufacturers and their current status will be presented.

 

 

About speaker:

Dr Zhu received his Ph.D degree in Physics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2014. His research is mainly about how to make Cu(In,Ga)Se2 based thin film solar cells high efficient, low cost and environmental friendly.

From 2009 to 2015, he participated in three projects, including "Key Fabrication Know-hows for CIGS Thin Film Solar Cell by Co-evaporation Method", "Fabrication Technology of CIGS Thin Film Solar Cells on Flexible Metallic Substrates" and "All-laser-patterning of CIGS-based Solar Modules". Before working in Shinetech Co. LTD as the General Manager in 2015, he worked in CUHK as a Postdoc for one year. Shinetech Co. LTD is the first company in China to industrialize CIGS solar cells on polyimde substrate. A 2MW production line has been established this year (2016) at Jiaxing, Zhejiang.