Are thin film solar cells a viable alternative to silicon photovoltaics?

As an alternative to single crystal silicon photovoltaics, thin film solar cells have been extensively explored for miniaturized cost-effective photovoltaic systems. Though the fight to gain efficiency has been severely engaged over the years, the battle is not yet over.

Are thin-film solar cells suited for higher light intensities?

On the other hand present thin-film silicon solar cells and modules are not suited for higher light intensities—i.e., for applications with sunlight concentration. As for the angle of incidence of the incoming light, it evidently also has, for optical reasons, an influence on the efficiency of the solar module.

Do thin-film silicon solar cells have a strong electric field?

For all types of p–i–n- and n–i–p-type thin-film silicon solar cells, it is of paramount importance to have a strong internal electric field and to avoid substantial reduction of this field by any of the effects listed earlier.

Can thin-film solar cells achieve 31% power conversion efficiency?

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative We demonstrate through precise numerical simulations the possibility of flexible, thin-film solar cells, consisting of crystalline silicon, to achieve power conversion efficiency of 31%.

How to improve light absorption in thin film amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar cells?

Enhancing light absorption within thin film amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar cells should lead to higher efficiency. This improvement is typically done using various light trapping techniques such as utilizing textured back reflectors for pronounced light scattering within the cell thus achieving higher absorption.

What are the disadvantages of thin-film silicon solar cells and modules?

Conclusions Thin-film silicon solar cells and modules have at present a significant disadvantage with respect to wafer-based crystalline silicon modules and even with respect to some other thin-film modules such as CIGS modules: their conversion efficiency is quite a bit lower.