This is a very interesting question. I can't give you exact data, but I can describe it:
There are several types of solar energy in thin films, amorphous or microcrystalline silicon, CIGS, CdTe, organic film.
- For amorphous or microcrystalline silicon, the bending ability of the amorphous silicon itself must be very good. After all, it has an amorphous structure, is extremely thin and has been exposed to high temperatures. small and unlikely to fail due to repeated bending. The bottleneck of the bending strength of amorphous silicon lies in the TCO electrode. Regardless of ITO, AZO or FTO, electrical performance will decline to varying degrees after multiple bends.
- For CIGS, the CIGS absorption layer is heated to high temperature and the stress is released. However, as CIGS has a polycrystalline structure and the film thickness isthicker than that of amorphous silicon, the bending strength may be lower. But it won't be much different, and everything will be fine under normal conditions of use. The bottleneck of CIGS remains the TCO electrode and the back Mo electrode. Mo is a very fragile metal and it is pulverized, so the internal stress is relatively large.
- CdTe is similar to CIGS. It is also the metal rear electrode and the TCO front electrode that are mainly responsible for its failure caused by bending.
- Finally, there is the organic film. It is estimated that organic film should be the solar cell capable of achieving the highest plasticity. Its functional layer is a small organic molecule or polymer layer, and metal. The electrode can be a very thin active metal. Generally, the active metals are very soft and the TCO can be made of organic transparent conductive polymers.This way you can bend over at will...
But wait a minute. Since you asked about the plasticity of the solar film, you must by default make it on a flexible substrate, otherwise who can mold it on glass. In this way, we need to consider two issues: 1. The plasticity of the substrate itself, and 2. The encapsulation issues.
When it comes to the base material itself, there are several options such as plastic, metal foil, and flexible glass. Plasticity is naturally plastic>metal sheet>flexible glass.
However, from a packaging point of view, organic solar energy will die quickly when exposed to outside air and humidity, and the packaging requirements are particularly high. However, the most suitable flexible plastic substrate for organic solar energy should be chosen. use inorganic film is used inur block water vapor and the top of the battery should also have similar packaging. In this way, the flexibility of barrier and encapsulation films has become a bottleneck for organic solar cells. Compared with other batteries, TCO and other films examine changes in their electrical properties after folding, while packaging films examine changes in their breathability after folding. It is also difficult to compare the two.
To return to your question, use a material to describe its plasticity. In the short term, no matter what the base material is, it has the plasticity of this material, because thin-film solar cells are too thin and insignificant. But in the long run, if you want to know the performance decline of solar cells after repeated bending, you can only analyze specific problems and use experimental data tour talk.