Low-cost & low-temperature curable solution-processed silica-based nanostructured antireflective coatings on CuIn1−xGaxSe2 thin film solar cells

Abstract

A simple, low-cost and low-temperature curable silica-based antireflective coating (ARC) deposited by a solution-based process has been investigated for Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells for the first time. Thin-layer nanostructured ARCs featuring 20–30 nm SiO₂ NPs were fabricated from a simple, low-cost chemical solution. The silica-based nanostructured ARCs were deposited on a glass substrate and on CIGS solar cells. The nanostructured ARCs on glass could increase the transmittance by 3.9%. The nanostructured ARCs could reduce the reflectance of CIGS solar cells by 4.96%. The nanostructured ARCs on CIGS solar cells resulted in an enhancement of solar energy conversion efficiency from 16.0% to 17.2%. These enhancements confirm the utility of these simple nanostructured ARCs as a cost-effective solution for photon management in thin film CIGS solar cells.