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Three Types of Solar Cells

In the market place today there are three basic types of solar cells. Solar cells are more commonly referred to as photovoltaic modules. The three basic modules are single crystal silicon, polycrystalline silicon and thin film.

Single crystal silicon was first created by accident in Bell laboratories in 1954. An experiment using semiconductors had a silicone doped with impurities which showed a sensitivity to light that was greater than ever seen before with other materials.

The efficiency was only at 6% but it was promising. Eventually the efficiency would reach 33% but has leveled off since then without an increase. The major drawback was that each solar panel was just one crystal. If just part of it becomes damaged then the entire cell will not function properly and the costs are extremely high.

In 1981 polycrystalline silicon was developed. This was made out of the same material but poured out into a mold to form the final structure that was wafer thick. They were made square to make a more efficient use of space but upon cooling the crystalline structure would form random crystal boundaries which in turn slightly reduce the efficiency of energy conversion to about 20%. These could be easily placed in conjunction with other cells to form panels. This is the most common of all the solar cells in use today.

The last is thin film panels that are made of the same material as the polycrystalline cells but microscopically thin. These are more flexible than the polycrystalline panels and were finally put into production in 2007. The production costs are lower than polycrystalline cells but they have yet to attain the same efficiency. Of the different types of solar cells the thin layer film is the most promising for higher efficiency.

There is much research being done on improving solar cell efficiency and in how to reduce costs of production.  Refer to earlier articles here on way to go green below.