Materials for Photovoltaics: State of Art and Recent Developments
Publisher
MDPI
Date
2019-02-23Bibliographic citation
Luceño-Sánchez, J.A., Díez-Pascual, A.M. and Capilla, R.P. (2019) ‘Materials for photovoltaics: State of art and recent developments’, International journal of molecular sciences, 20(4), p. 976. doi:10.3390/ijms20040976.
Keywords
Photovoltaics
Generations
Polymers
Carbon nanotubes
Graphene
Efficiency
Document type
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Publisher's version
https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/4/976Rights
© 2019 by the authors
Atribución 4.0 Internacional
Access rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Abstract
In recent years, photovoltaic cell technology has grown extraordinarily as a sustainable
source of energy, as a consequence of the increasing concern over the impact of fossil fuel-based
energy on global warming and climate change. The different photovoltaic cells developed up to date
can be classified into four main categories called generations (GEN), and the current market is mainly
covered by the first two GEN. The 1GEN (mono or polycrystalline silicon cells and gallium arsenide)
comprises well-known medium/low cost technologies that lead to moderate yields. The 2GEN
(thin-film technologies) includes devices that have lower efficiency albeit are cheaper to manufacture.
The 3GEN presents the use of novel materials, as well as a great variability of designs, and comprises
expensive but very efficient cells. The 4GEN, also known as “inorganics-in-organics”, combines
the low cost/flexibility of polymer thin films with the stability of novel inorganic nanostructures
(i.e., metal nanoparticles and metal oxides) with organic-based nanomaterials (i.e., carbon nanotubes,
graphene and its derivatives), and are currently under investigation. The main goal of this review
is to show the current state of art on photovoltaic cell technology in terms of the materials used for
the manufacture, efficiency and production costs. A comprehensive comparative analysis of the
four generations is performed, including the device architectures, their advantages and limitations.
Special emphasis is placed on the 4GEN, where the diverse roles of the organic and nano-components
are discussed. Finally, conclusions and future perspectives are summarized.
Files in this item
Files | Size | Format |
|
---|---|---|---|
materials_luceno_IJMS_2019.pdf | 7.977Mb |
|
Files | Size | Format |
|
---|---|---|---|
materials_luceno_IJMS_2019.pdf | 7.977Mb |
|
Collections
- QUANING - Artículos [367]