Scientists at the USA's National Renewable Energy Laboratory collaborated with researchers at Washington State University and the University of Tennessee to improve maximum voltage available from a cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cell, which is a key factor in improving solar cell efficiency. The team improved cell voltage by placing a few phosphorous atoms on tellurium lattice sites and then carefully forming ideal interfaces between materials with different atomic spacings to complete the solar cell. This approach improved conductivity and carrier lifetime by orders of magnitude, thereby enabling the fabrication of CdTe solar cells with an open-circuit voltage that broke the 1-V barrier for the first time. For more information, please visit: www.nrel.gov
