Cadmium telluride solar cells benefits

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is a stable crystalline compound formed from cadmium and tellurium.

Cadmium telluride granules application

It is mainly used as the semiconducting material in cadmium telluride photovoltaics and an infrared optical window. It is usually sandwiched with cadmium sulfide to form a p–n junction solar PV cell. Typically, CdTe PV cells use a n-i-p structure.

Cadmium telluride solar cells

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is the most commercially successful thin-film photovoltaic technology. CdTe solar cells are the second most common photovoltaic (PV) technology in the world marketplace after crystalline silicon, currently representing 5% of the world market. CdTe thin-film solar cells can be manufactured quickly and inexpensively, providing an alternative to conventional silicon-based technologies. The record efficiency for a laboratory CdTe solar cell is 22.1% by First Solar. First Solar also reported its average commercial module efficiency to be approximately 18% at the end of 2020.

The benefits of cadmium telluride pieces thin-film solar cells

High absorption: Cadmium telluride is a direct-bandgap material with bandgap energy that can be tuned from 1.4 to 1.5 (eV), which is nearly optimal for converting sunlight into electricity using a single junction.

Low-cost manufacturing: Cadmium telluride solar cells use high throughput manufacturing methods to produce completed modules from input materials in a matter of hours.