Volume 64, Issue 24 e202505297
Research Article

Photovoltaic Absorber “Glues” for Efficient Bifacial Selenium Photovoltaics

Xiaoyan An

Xiaoyan An

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190 China

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China

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Zongbao Li

Corresponding Author

Zongbao Li

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan, 430220 China

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

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Xia Wang

Xia Wang

Hubei Engineering Research Center for Intelligent Detection and Identification of Complex Parts, Wuhan Vocational College of Software and Engineering, Wuhan, 430205 China

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Wenbo Lu

Wenbo Lu

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190 China

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China

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Xin Wen

Xin Wen

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190 China

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China

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Mingjie Feng

Mingjie Feng

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190 China

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Qingxiang Liu

Qingxiang Liu

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190 China

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China

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Zhouqing Wei

Zhouqing Wei

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190 China

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China

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Jin-Song Hu

Jin-Song Hu

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190 China

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China

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Ding-Jiang Xue

Corresponding Author

Ding-Jiang Xue

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190 China

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 China

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

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First published: 07 April 2025
Citations: 2

Graphical Abstract

A glue-bonding strategy using high-viscosity molten selenium (Se) as an adhesive is reported to bond two fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glasses, creating bifacial solar cells without magnetron sputtering. The Se cells exhibit a bifaciality factor of 90.1%, with efficiencies of 8.61% under 1-sun with an albedo of 0.3 and 26.17% under 1000-lux indoor illumination with an albedo of 0.8.

Abstract

Bifacial solar cells hold great potential for achieving higher power output than conventional monofacial devices by harvesting solar irradiance from both their front and rear surfaces. However, almost all currently reported bifacial devices typically require a sputtered rear transparent conducting oxide electrode, which can damage the underlying layers due to plasma effects during the deposition process. Here, we report a glue-bonding strategy that uses a high-viscosity photovoltaic absorber slurry—in the case of molten selenium (Se)—as the adhesive to bond two charge-transport layer-deposited commercial fluorine-doped tin oxide glasses, directly creating bifacial solar cells without the use of magnetron sputtering. We find that molten Se exhibits relatively high viscosity, high stability, and Newtonian fluid characteristics, facilitating film formation using this strategy. The resulting bifacial Se solar cells exhibit a bifaciality factor of 90.1%, surpassing all types of conventional thin-film solar cells. These cells achieve efficiencies of 8.61% under 1-sun illumination with an albedo of 0.3 and 26.17% under 1000-lux indoor illumination with an albedo of 0.8, with no efficiency loss after 1000 h of ambient storage.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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