High efficiency solar photovoltaic cells produced with inexpensive materials by processes suitable for large volume production

摘要

A solar energy device comprising: a substrate; a photovoltaic layer on said substrate; a back conductor in contact with said substrate; a grid conductor in contact with said substrate; said photovoltaic layer being of a material selected from the class consisting of: monoclinic zinc diphosphide (also referred to as beta zinc diphosphide and indicated by beta-ZnP2); copper diphosphide (CuP2); magnesium tetraphosphide (MgP4); gamma-iron tetraphosphide (gamma-FeP4) and mixed crystals formed from these four materials.