Shell Solar Panels CIS Cells. 0.25 watts

Shell thin-film Copper Indium di Selenide (CIS) solar panels.  output .25 watts

60mm x 60mm, 2mm thick. (about 2.4″ x 2.4″ x .08″)

5V open circuit.

100mA short circuit.

Max power  .25W(80mA, 3.2V).

These are recent production, first quality, made by Shell Solar in Camarillo, CA.
They are 60mm x 60mm, 2mm thick. (about 2.4″ x 2.4″ x .08″)They have the active semiconductor material deposited on the front surface of the glass, ribbons bonded to the edges, then the whole thing is covered with clear tough plastic to protect the cell and ribbon. So they are very easy to use, just solder to the ribbon and mount them in your project.

They put out 5V open circuit, and about 100mA short circuit. Max power of the ones I tested is about .25W(80mA, 3.2V). The spec that they were tested to in production was 1/2 sun (500W/m2 irradiance), 2.9V, 32mA minimum. So they all meet or exceed that spec. That comes to .09 watts, under half sun conditions, so it makes sense that they would be more than double under full sun. CIS is the most stable and rugged of the thin film solar technologies, and is about twice as efficient as amorphous silicon. It is more efficient under cloudy or partial shade conditions than crystalline silicon. CIS is also radiation resistant, and therefore is often used in spacecraft applications.

One other difference between CIS and amorphous silicon (a-Si) is that a-Si loses around 10% of its power after a month or so of exposure to sunlight, whereas CIS actually gains about 10% after approximately 3 hours exposure to the sunlight of at least 1/3 standard full sun intensity with no load (light soak). The photons of sunlight modify the semiconductor structure, repairing boundary defects that are produced during the high temperature production processes. After this light soak, the efficiency gain is permanent. However, the light soak must be performed with no load.So before permanently connecting them to a load, you should leave them in the sun for a few hours to get the max efficiency.

You can connect them in series for more voltage, and in parallel for more current.
Ought to be good for walkway lights, battery charging, remote instrumentation or data loggers, educational projects, and other dc electrical applications, etc