Materials researchers at Estonia’s Tallinn University of Technology partially substituted copper with silver in solar cells’ absorber material to improve the efficiency of the devices. In a study published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A , the scientists explain that their goal is to develop the next generation of thin-film solar cells based on compound semiconductors . A thin-film solar cell consists of several thin layers of semiconductor materials. For efficient thin-film solar cells, a semiconductor with very good light-absorbing properties must be used as an absorber. Thus, the Estonian researchers created compound semiconductor materials named kesterites (Cu2ZnSn(Se,S)4) which, in addition to excellent light absorption, contain minerals such as copper, zinc, tin, sulphur and selenium. To produce kesterites, the researchers used a unique monograin powder technology. “The monograin powder technology we are developing differs from other similar solar cell manufacturing technologies used in the world in terms of […]