Generation of Solar Cells: A Review of Materials, Operation and Limitation of Photovoltaic Technologies

Abstract

Clean and sustainable energy, as an alternative energy source is experiencing a rapid growth across the world thus making solar photovoltaic (PV) energy a key technology in the process of shifting to sustainable energy. The development of solar PV has gone through three generations, the first-generation crystalline silicon, the second-generation thin-film, and the new third generation emerging cells. This review is a brief assessment of every PV generation in terms of their operating principles, material structure, and limitations they have by design. The study performed a literature review by examining the most recent developments and issues in each of the categories. The high efficiency and technological maturity make first generation silicon cells to dominate the market. But they need very pure silicon wafers that are also very expensive and involve high-energy expenses. Amoebic silicon (a-si), cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) are thin-film technologies, reduced-cost and reduced materials technologies and a-si and CdTe (as well as CIGS) technologies. They are more flexible and easier to manufacture, but tend to be less efficient and use scarce or poisonous elements. The use of new materials and structures offers the promise of ultra-high efficiency and low-cost fabrication with third-generation devices, such as dye-sensitized, organic, perovskite, quantum-dot, and multi-junction cells. An example of this is perovskite cells, which have reached efficiencies of over 25 percent when used in the laboratory. However, the emerging solar cells are faced with issues of long-term stability, material toxicity (e.g. lead) and scalability. The study concludes that there is a trade-off of performance, cost, and sustainability of each PV generation. First- and Second-generation cells have proven successful using commercials and will keep on providing most of the solar power, but other Third-generation cells will have technological advancements in efficiency and versatility. Our multi-generational approach is that the most viable way to proceed is taking advantage of the strengths of each technology and using them in complementary manner. The future studies are to focus on bringing emerging PV materials in terms of durability and environmental friendliness so that they can gain wide applications.