Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells

N. BUDINI; R. D. ARCE; R. H. BUITRAGO; J. A. SCHMIDT

Alternative Energy and Shale Gas Encyclopedia

Wiley & Sons

Año: 2015; p. 226 - 232

Solar energy, as well as other renewable energy sources, appears as a promising candidate to capture an important proportion of the world energetic matrix. Indeed, solar energy conversion and photovoltaic electricity consumption have been increasing in the last decades at high rates. At the same time, research in this field has also increased, giving rise to new technologies. One of the main driving forces for research in this field is the need to overcome the current compromiseexisting between conversion efficiency and production cost of solar cells. The latter is hard to reduce while maintaining, or even without decreasing, the former. However, present research intends to force this restriction to the limit of developing low-cost materials and processes leading to higher conversion efficiencies.