Emerging Next Generation Solar Cells: Route to High Efficiency and Low Cost

Abstract

Generation of clean energy is one of the main challenges of the 21st century. Solar energy is the most abundantly available renewable energy source which would be supplying more than 50% of the global electricity demand in 2100.Solar cells are used to convert light energy into electrical energy directly with an appeal that it does not generate any harmful bi-products, like greenhouse gasses. The manufacturing of solar cells is actually based on the types of semiconducting or non-semiconducting materials used and commercial maturity. From the very beginning of the terrestrial use of Solar Cells, efficiency and costs are the main focusing areas of research. The definition of so-called emerging technologies sometimes described as including any technology capable of overcoming the Shockley-Queisser limit of power conversion efficiency (33.7 percent) for a single junction device. In this paper, few promising materials for solar cells are discussed including their structural morphology, electrical and optical properties. The excellent state of the art technology, advantages and potential research issues yet to be explored are also pointed out.