Transfer of a highly efficient thin-film photovoltaic device from its growth substrate to a flexible plastic sheet

The method demonstrated in this report concerns the separation of photovoltaic devices based on thin semiconductor films from the substrates on which they are originally grown or fabricated, and their subsequent attachment to alternate host substrates. This device-transfer technique will allow photovoltaic devices to be grown on suitable substrates in optimum conditions and then be transferred to a great variety of surfaces to function on these, without compromising the device quality. In this work, we present an easy and roll-to-roll compatible approach of transferring PIN type amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film solar cells from their primary glass substrate to a plastic transparency sheet using a dissolvable layer of NaCl between the substrate and the solar cell. The solar cell transferred onto the plastic sheet is 9% efficient and there is no degradation observed in the cell performance due to the transfer. The proposed technique can be applied to all photovoltaic devices based on thin semiconductor films