Flexible Glass and Solar Panels

Published: October 27, 2011    Category: Advanced Materials Renewable Energy

The vast majority of PV panels shipped today are rigid and there is little prospect of any immediate change.  Most PV uses silicon sheets as both the substrate and the absorber layer and silicon is (apart from some minor counter examples) is inherently rigid.  Thin-film PV (TFPV) represents almost all of the rest of the PV market and this is mostly in the form of rigid panels too, with regular glass as the primary material used for substrates and encapsulation. 

Glass offers a number of attractive features for PV.  These include:

• A very good chemical resistance which is needed both for the processing of the solar cells as well as for its long term application to be resistant to atmospheric attack and ultraviolett radiation.

• Its temperature stability is needed for the fabrication of panels, which often involves high-temperature processing.

• Good light transmission properties are also needed and this is also offered by glass as well as a smooth surface.

Standard glass TFPV substrates are produced by a variety of companies including Corning, Schott, and Saint-Gobain. But because this standard glass can't be used for flexible PV, the flexible substrate choices involve some tradeoffs.  If glass could be adapted to be suitable for flexible applications—that is, made flexible—it could in some senses provide the "best of both worlds" and become a viable choice in this space.  This is a positive for the future of flexible glass.

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