Lessons from Chalcopyrites for Scaling Thin Film Perovskite Photovoltaic Technology

TL;DR

This paper reviews the history of CIGS thin-film solar cells to extract lessons that can guide the scalable and durable commercialization of perovskite photovoltaic technology, emphasizing the importance of learning from past successes and failures.

Contribution

It offers a historical perspective on CIGS solar cells to inform strategies for overcoming challenges in scaling perovskite PV technology.

Findings

CIGS achieved commercial readiness after extensive refinement.

Manufacturing complexity hindered large-scale deployment of CIGS.

Learning from CIGS can help avoid similar pitfalls in perovskite commercialization.

Abstract

The growing demand for photovoltaic (PV) technologies that are lightweight, flexible, and seamlessly integrated into diverse applications has propelled interest in thin-film solar cells. Among these, Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 (CIGS) and metal halide perovskites have garnered significant attention in the past and present, respectively. While CIGS reached commercial readiness after decades of refinement, their large-scale deployment was hindered by manufacturing complexity, scale-up challenges, and a lack of coordination between materials, device design, and production systems. Perovskite solar cells, despite setting record efficiencies at an unprecedented pace, now face similar challenges on their path to commercialization: ensuring long-term stability, translating laboratory performance to scalable architectures, and aligning with industrial realities. In this perspective, we revisit the CIGS experience not as a benchmark, but as a blueprint, highlighting how its successes and failures can inform a more deliberate and durable trajectory for perovskite PV. Bridging this historical perspective with the current frontier, we propose that the future of perovskites depends not only on continued innovation, but on learning from past thin-film PV experience to avoid its repetition.