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Cadmium telluride solar cells are the world’s leading thin-film photovoltaic technology. As of 2023, global installed capacity has surpassed 30 GWp, with about 40% of that capacity located in the United States. Their architecture can be simplified into several stacked layers, from bottom to top:
The incorporation of zinc or magnesium to form cadmium zine telluride (CdZnTe) and cadmium magnesium telluride (CdMgTe) represents a possible way to move the bandgap into a viable regime for tandem incorporation, but using these materials introduces processing challenges that have thus far prevented their use in high-throughput manufacturing.
The solar cells achieved an efficiency of 11 %. However, polyimide (PI) is less thermally stable compared to glass and may exhibit thermal expansion, which can cause delamination and degradation of the device. PI is also more susceptible to moisture and oxygen, which can degrade the effectiveness of the flexible CdTe solar cells . Fig. 4.
Cadmium telluride PV is the only thin film technology with lower costs than conventional solar cells made of crystalline silicon in multi-kilowatt systems.
PV array made of cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar panels Cadmium telluride (CdTe) photovoltaics is a photovoltaic (PV) technology based on the use of cadmium telluride in a thin semiconductor layer designed to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity.
Cadmium telluride photovoltaic cells have negative impacts on both workers and the ecosystem. When inhaled or ingested the materials of CdTe cells are considered to be both toxic and carcinogenic by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
One gigawatt (GW) of CdTe PV modules would require about 93 metric tons (at current efficiencies and thicknesses). Through improved material efficiency and increased PV recycling, the CdTe PV industry has the potential to fully rely on tellurium from recycled end-of-life modules by 2038.
