A Three-Terminal ZnS-based CIGS Solar Cell

This paper presents new solar cell architecture, the double-sided copper indium gallium selenide (DS-CIGS) solar cell. The device introduces a third terminal between the two CIGS sides, comprised of a layer of conductive indium tin oxide (ITO). Being transparent, the ITO layer allows light to pass through and be absorbed by the CIGS cell on the other side. Designed for bifacial applications, simulation results indicate a 68.3% increase in conversion efficiency for equal front and back illumination, versus a comparable conventional bifacial CIGS architecture (η=29.68 % versus η=17.64 %).