Indian scientists use bag laminators to encapsulate polycrystalline solar cells

Indian scientists used a bag solar panel laminating machine to encapsulate polycrystalline solar cells. The researchers claim that such devices have better ultraviolet photon absorption than solar cells coated with polymer coatings.

Researchers at the University of Madurai Kamaragi in India claimed that pouch laminating machine can be used to encapsulate solar cells. Such pouch laminating machine is commonly used to strengthen the strength of documents by sealing them in a sturdy plastic cover.

Scientists say that the solar cells they make in this way absorb ultraviolet (UV) photons better than devices treated with polymer surface coatings.

This study ignores factors such as durability and cost, and only focuses on the technical feasibility of deploying this fast, low-cost packaging technology for testing at the laboratory level. Research co-author Vasu Veerapandy said: "Compared with traditional lamination technology, the ultimate advantage of this technology is simplicity. Traditional lamination technology is cumbersome and energy-consuming. This can be pressed with a desktop bag that is affordable in any laboratory. Film machine to complete."

The researchers used a solar panel laminating machine to encapsulate a 3 square centimeter textured polycrystalline silicon square solar photovoltaic wafer and compared its performance with a device coated with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).

The researchers wrote: "Under the effect of the encapsulant, the diffuse reflection of the battery shows better photon absorption in the ultraviolet region, which is verified by the improved external quantum efficiency."

The research team said that the encapsulated battery will lose a small portion of visible light photons, but the electronic performance has not been affected. "On the other hand, PMMA-coated batteries showed excellent photon-to-electron conversion, but this did not result in effective charge collection," the scholars said.

Veerapandy said: "Our conclusion is that packaging laminated by small-size bags is a better passive method for laboratory-scale experiments using battery simulation modules, and polymer surface coatings can affect the electrical performance of solar cells. ."

The co-authors of the study said that the type of film needed can reach the price of an ID card. "So it won't add any significant cost to equipment manufacturing," the scholar said. "If the clothes are kept flat and not wrinkled, the chance of damage is very small."

The researchers suggest that the stratified approach can reduce the cost of using solar energy to power small-scale research efforts such as microbial decontamination, biological instruments and the use of photometric systems for quantitative determination of nitrase and water quality, or solar waste recycling.

Veerapandy said: "The results of this study are promising and indicate the need for future work." "The method used in this study should be applied to other photovoltaic materials to ensure that the results can be generalized, not just for crystalline silicon ."

According to the analysis of the Micro Lithium Battery Group, this layering method can be further compared with the polymers used for the front, back and interlayer coatings. This technology can be used for durability testing under ultraviolet acceleration conditions.