Flexible solar cells based on foldable silicon wafers with blunted edges

Wenzhu Liu (), Yujing Liu, Ziqiang Yang, Changqing Xu, Xiaodong Li, Shenglei Huang, Jianhua Shi, Junling Du, Anjun Han, Yuhao Yang, Guoning Xu, Jian Yu, Jiajia Ling, Jun Peng, Liping Yu, Bin Ding, Yuan Gao, Kai Jiang, Zhenfei Li, Yanchu Yang, Zhaojie Li, Shihu Lan, Haoxin Fu, Bin Fan, Yanyan Fu, Wei He, Fengrong Li, Xin Song, Yinuo Zhou, Qiang Shi, Guangyuan Wang, Lan Guo, Jingxuan Kang, Xinbo Yang, Dongdong Li, Zhechao Wang, Jie Li, Sigurdur Thoroddsen, Rong Cai, Fuhai Wei, Guoqiang Xing, Yi Xie, Xiaochun Liu (), Liping Zhang (), Fanying Meng (), Zengfeng Di () and Zhengxin Liu ()
Additional contact information
Wenzhu Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yujing Liu: Changsha University of Science and Technology
Ziqiang Yang: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Changqing Xu: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Xiaodong Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shenglei Huang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jianhua Shi: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Junling Du: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Anjun Han: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yuhao Yang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Guoning Xu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jian Yu: Southwest Petroleum University
Jiajia Ling: UISEE Technologies
Jun Peng: Soochow University
Liping Yu: Beihang University
Bin Ding: Beihang University
Yuan Gao: Beihang University
Kai Jiang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhenfei Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yanchu Yang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhaojie Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shihu Lan: Tongwei Solar Company
Haoxin Fu: Tongwei Solar Company
Bin Fan: Tongwei Solar Company
Yanyan Fu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wei He: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fengrong Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xin Song: Changzhou University
Yinuo Zhou: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Qiang Shi: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Guangyuan Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lan Guo: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jingxuan Kang: Leibniz Institut
Xinbo Yang: Soochow University
Dongdong Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhechao Wang: Polar Research Institute of China
Jie Li: Polar Research Institute of China
Sigurdur Thoroddsen: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Rong Cai: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fuhai Wei: Polar Research Institute of China
Guoqiang Xing: Tongwei Solar Company
Yi Xie: Tongwei Solar Company
Xiaochun Liu: Changsha University of Science and Technology
Liping Zhang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fanying Meng: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zengfeng Di: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhengxin Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature, 2023, vol. 617, issue 7962, 717-723

Abstract: Abstract Flexible solar cells have a lot of market potential for application in photovoltaics integrated into buildings and wearable electronics because they are lightweight, shockproof and self-powered. Silicon solar cells have been successfully used in large power plants. However, despite the efforts made for more than 50 years, there has been no notable progress in the development of flexible silicon solar cells because of their rigidity1–4. Here we provide a strategy for fabricating large-scale, foldable silicon wafers and manufacturing flexible solar cells. A textured crystalline silicon wafer always starts to crack at the sharp channels between surface pyramids in the marginal region of the wafer. This fact enabled us to improve the flexibility of silicon wafers by blunting the pyramidal structure in the marginal regions. This edge-blunting technique enables commercial production of large-scale (>240 cm2), high-efficiency (>24%) silicon solar cells that can be rolled similarly to a sheet of paper. The cells retain 100% of their power conversion efficiency after 1,000 side-to-side bending cycles. After being assembled into large (>10,000 cm2) flexible modules, these cells retain 99.62% of their power after thermal cycling between −70 °C and 85 °C for 120 h. Furthermore, they retain 96.03% of their power after 20 min of exposure to air flow when attached to a soft gasbag, which models wind blowing during a violent storm.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05921-z

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