Prospects of nanotechnology for high-efficiency solar cells

The advances of semiconductor solar cells enabled a paradigm shift of clean alternative energy generation marked by Bell Labs´ first modern solar cell (a.k.a. “Photovoltaic Cell (PV)” made from crystal silicon in 1954. The solar cells fabricated from crystal Si is now reached to its energy conversion efficiency from 6% to 22% in the last 55 years. Still, more developments are going on to bring Si solar cell conversion efficiency closer to its theoretical limit to 30.7%. Solar Cells from other materials such as compound semiconductors is now reached to close to 50%. The late 1990s, energy generation utilizing the photovoltaic effects witnessed another disruptive and yet exhilarating progress enabled by nano-structured materials and devices structured. Nano structure based solar cell can be explained as a method of increasing surface area and increasing the photon capture which, in this case, is a multiple nano-solar cells. The result is a capability to increase the aggregate energy conversion efficiency significantly more than conventional solar cell.