A method of reclaiming cadmium material from photovoltaic (PV) modules is provided. The method includes submerging one or more portions of a PV module in a solution including non-distilled water, wherein the one or more portions of the PV module are submerged until cadmium material present on the PV module dissolves into the solution, boiling the solution until the dissolved cadmium material precipitates, and collecting the precipitated cadmium material.

A photosensitive element includes a first film layer, a second film layer and a third film layer. The first film layer, the second film layer and the third film layer are in a sequentially stacked structure, the first film layer is a p-type copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) layer, the second film layer is an i-type CIGS layer, and the third film layer is an n-type film layer, and the first film layer, the second film layer and the third film layer form a PIN junction structure.

A photovoltaic device is presented. The photovoltaic device includes a layer stack; and an absorber layer is disposed on the layer stack. The absorber layer comprises selenium, wherein an atomic concentration of selenium varies across a thickness of the absorber layer. The photovoltaic device is substantially free of a cadmium sulfide layer.

A perovskite-based solar cell comprising a transparent electrode disposed on a buffer layer that protects the perovskite from damage during the deposition of the electrode is disclosed. The buffer material is deposited using either low-temperature atomic-layer deposition, chemical-vapor deposition, or pulsed chemical-vapor deposition. In some embodiments, the perovskite material is operative as an absorption layer in a multi-cell solar-cell structure. In some embodiments, the perovskite material is operative as an absorption layer in a single junction solar cell structure.

The invention discloses nanocrystalline (NC) FeS.sub.2 thin films as the back contact for CdTe solar cells. In one example, the FeS.sub.2 NC layer is prepared from a solution directly on the CdTe surface using spin-casting and chemical treatment at ambient temperature and pressure, without a thermal treatment step. Solar cells prepared by applying the NC FeS.sub.2 back contact onto CdTe yield efficiencies of about 95% to 100% that of standard Cu/Au back contact devices. In another example, FeS.sub.2 is interposed between Cu and Au to form a Cu/FeS.sub.2 NC/Au back contact configuration yielding an efficiency improvement of 5 to 9 percent higher than standard Cu/Au devices.

A method for forming a photovoltaic device comprising the steps of: providing a first conductive material on a substrate; depositing a continuous layer of a dielectric material less than 10 nm thick on the first conductive material; annealing the first conductive material and the layer of dielectric material; forming a chalcogenide light-absorbing material on the layer of dielectric material; and depositing a second material on the light-absorbing material such that the second material is electrically coupled to the light-absorbing material; wherein the first conductive material and the dielectric material are selected such that, during the step of annealing, a portion of the first conductive material undergoes a chemical reaction to form: a layer of a metal chalcogenide material at the interface between first conductive material and the dielectric material; and a plurality of openings in the layer of dielectric material; the openings being such to allow electrical coupling between the light-absorbing material and the layer of a metal chalcogenide material. Additionally contemplated is a photovoltaic device formed by this method.

An object of the present invention is to provide a gas barrier film which can prevent the damage of an inorganic layer even in a case where the gas barrier film is used in a product which undergoes a step of applying pressure, heat, and the like, a solar cell using the gas barrier film, and a manufacturing method of the gas barrier film. The object is achieved by a gas barrier film having a support and an inorganic layer and a protective organic layer on one surface of the support, in which the protective organic layer has a polymerized substance of a graft copolymer having an acryl polymer as a main chain and having, as a side chain, at least either an acryloyl group-terminated urethane polymer or an acryloyl group-terminated urethane oligomer, a polymerized substance of a (meth)acrylate monomer having three or more functional groups, a polymerized substance of the graft copolymer and the (meth)acrylate monomer having three or more functional groups, a (meth)acrylate polymer, and a silane coupling agent having a (meth)acryloyl group.

Methods and materials for growing TMD materials on substrates and making semiconductor devices are described.

A method for forming a back contact on an absorber layer in a photovoltaic device includes forming a two dimensional material on a first substrate. An absorber layer including CuZnSnS(Se)(CZTSSe) is grown over the first substrate on the two dimensional material. A buffer layer is grown on the absorber layer on a side opposite the two dimensional material. The absorber layer is exfoliated from the two dimensional material to remove the first substrate from a backside of the absorber layer opposite the buffer layer. A back contact is deposited on the absorber layer.

The present invention provides stretchable, and optionally printable, semiconductors and electronic circuits capable of providing good performance when stretched, compressed, flexed or otherwise deformed. Stretchable semiconductors and electronic circuits of the present invention preferred for some applications are flexible, in addition to being stretchable, and thus are capable of significant elongation, flexing, bending or other deformation along one or more axes. Further, stretchable semiconductors and electronic circuits of the present invention may be adapted to a wide range of device configurations to provide fully flexible electronic and optoelectronic devices.