Cadmium Telluride Solar Panels

An issue with using thin film panels with a cdte is that they contain a large amount of cadmium which is a toxic element.

Cadmium telluride solar panels. As the second most common photovoltaic technology on the market behind traditional crystalline silicon cadmium telluride cdte panels are already a viable thin film solar panel solution. This type of substrate is the most used with manufacturing thin film solar panels and holds 50 percent of market share. Cadmium telluride cdte photovoltaics describes a photovoltaic pv technology that is based on the use of cadmium telluride a thin semiconductor layer designed to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity. Cadmium telluride solar cells use low cost manufacturing technology to produce low cost cells.

Cadmium telluride cdte is the most common type of thin film solar cell in production. Cadmium telluride cdte photovoltaics or also called cadmium telluride solar cell is a kind of photovoltaic pv technology that can produce electricity from sunlight using a thin film of compound cadmium telluride to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity. The united states is the leader in cadmium telluride cdte photovoltaic pv manufacturing and nrel has been at the forefront of research and development in this area. Cdte thin film panels are made from several thin layers.

One main energy producing layer made from the compound cadmium telluride and surrounding layers for electricity conduction and collection. Pv solar cells based on cdte represent the largest segment of commercial thin film module production worldwide. Recent improvements have matched the efficiency of multicrystalline silicon while maintaining cost leadership. Production the most common cdte solar cells consist of a simple p n heterojunction structure containing a p doped cdte layer matched with an n doped cadmium sulfide cds layer which acts as a window layer.

On a lifecycle basis cdte pv has the smallest carbon footprint lowest water use and shortest energy payback time of any current photo voltai. Normally thin film cells have quite a bit lower efficiency than c si cells but the latest products from first solar have a 14 efficiency which is pretty close to polycrystalline cells. First solar a us based manufacturer makes attractive pv modules that can be used in home applications.