A review of technologies for high efficiency silicon solar cells

Abstract

Solar power, an emerging representative of sustainable resources, remains a critical solution to the growing requirement for energy. In recent years, huge efforts have been devoted to developing solar power conversion, leading to the rapid development of the global photovoltaic (PV) market. As the first-generation solar cells, silicon solar cells, particularly crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells, still dominate the PV industry. However, many factors constrain their efficiency to a great extent, including the surface recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes and the reduction of light absorption on the front surface. To overcome these problems, many techniques have been investigated. This paper presents an overview of high-efficiency silicon solar cells’ typical technologies, including surface passivation, anti-reflection coating, surface texturing, multi-junction solar cell, and interdigitated back contact solar cell. The working principles, characteristics, and some recent research of these techniques are discussed in this article.