What is CdTe used for?

What is CdTe used for?

CdTe is used to make thin film solar cells, accounting for about 8% of all solar cells installed in 2011. They are among the lowest-cost types of solar cell, although a comparison of total installed cost depends on installation size and many other factors, and has changed rapidly from year to year.

Is CdTe toxic?

CdTe is still a potentially toxic material. But the way it is encapsulated in glass in First Solar panels, Sinha said, sharply limits the possibility of inhalation or ingestion exposure. “The semiconductor material is bonded to a sheet of glass under very high temperature,” Sinha explained.

Is CdTe direct band gap?

In the cell technologies based on thin film, the CdTe is the first material used for thin-film technologies. Like CIGS, this material has the direct nature of band gap. CdTe has a larger absorption coefficient and a stable compound produced from various methods.

Is cadmium telluride rare?

Only a small amount, estimated to be about 800 metric tons per year, is available. According to USGS, global production in 2007 was 135 metric tons. One gigawatt (GW) of CdTe PV modules would require about 93 metric tons (at current efficiencies and thicknesses).

Do solar panels leak cadmium?

Studies have shown the heavy metals in solar panels — namely lead and cadmium — can leach out of the cells and get into groundwater, as well as affect plants. These metals also have a record for detrimental effects on human health.

Do solar panels leak heavy metals?

Hazardous Waste or Not? Solar panel waste can include heavy metals such as silver, lead, arsenic and cadmium that – at certain levels – may be classified as hazardous waste.

What type of semiconductor is CdTe?

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) (Bonnet (2012))is a direct-bandgap semiconductor with that bandgap well matched to the solar spectrum. CdTe thin-film laboratory cell efficiency of 18.3% has been achieved, and the record module efficiency currently stands at 15.3%.

How is CdTe made?

Production. The most common CdTe solar cells consist of a p-n heterojunction structure containing a p-doped CdTe layer matched with an n-doped cadmium sulfide (CdS) or magnesium zinc oxide (MZO) window layer. Typical CdTe thin-film deposition techniques include vapor-transport deposition and close-spaced sublimation.

Why is cadmium telluride used in solar panels?

The benefits of CdTe thin-film solar cells include: High absorption: Cadmium telluride is a direct-bandgap material with bandgap energy that can be tuned from 1.4 to 1.5 (eV), which is nearly optimal for converting sunlight into electricity using a single junction.

How do you pronounce cadmium telluride?

Phonetic spelling of cadmium telluride

1. cadmium telluride.
2. cad-mium tel-lur-ide.
3. cad-mium tel-luride.