Thin-film solar cell fabricated on a flexible metallic substrate

A solar cell for converting solar radiation into usable electrical energy, the solar cell comprising:

• an aluminum substrate;
• a semiconductor absorber;
• an electrically conductive back metal contact layer between the substrate and the semiconductor absorber;
• Al2O3 between the substrate and the back metal contact layer, the Al2O3 formed by anodizing the aluminum substrate wherein the Al2O3 electrically insulates the aluminum substrate from the electrically conductive back metal contact layer;
• and
• an In2Se3 layer deposited between the back metal contact layer and the semiconductor absorber.

A method of constructing a thin-film solar cell, the method comprising:

• providing an aluminum substrate;
• depositing a Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film semiconductor absorber layer on the aluminum substrate;
• and
• insulating the aluminum substrate from the semiconductor absorber layer to inhibit reaction between the aluminum substrate and the semiconductor absorber layer wherein the insulating comprises anodizing a surface of the aluminum substrate to thereby form a layer of Al2O3 that insulates the aluminum substrate from the semiconductor absorber layer.

A thin-film solar cell comprising:

• an aluminum substrate that comprises an electrically insulating layer of Al2O3 formed by anodizing the aluminum substrate;
• a semiconductor absorber layer;
• and
• an (In,Ga)2Se3 layer deposited between the substrate and the semiconductor absorber layer.

A method of constructing a thin-film solar cell, the method comprising:

• providing an aluminum substrate that comprises an electrically insulating layer of Al2O3 formed by anodizing the aluminum substrate;
• depositing an In2Se3 layer on a layer supported by the substrate;
• and
• depositing a semiconductor absorber layer on the In2Se3 layer.