This section will introduce and detail the basic characteristics and operating principles of crystalline silicon PV cells as some considerations for designing systems using PV cells. A PV cell is essentially a large-area p–n semiconductor junction that captures the energy from photons to create electrical energy.
The electrical performance of a photovoltaic (PV) silicon solar cell is described by its current–voltage (I–V) character-istic curve, which is in turn determined by device and material properties.
Silicon solar cells are the most broadly utilized of all solar cell due to their high photo-conversion efficiency even as single junction photovoltaic devices. Besides, the high relative abundance of silicon drives their preference in the PV landscape.
Among various PV technologies, crystalline silicon solar cells remain the dominant choice due to their high efficiency, reliability, and cost-effectiveness [5, 6]. As the demand for solar energy continues to grow, optimizing the performance of solar cells becomes crucial to enhance their energy conversion efficiency [7, 8, 9].
The dominance of silicon in the photovoltaic market can be attributed to several key factors. Firstly, silicon is the second most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, making it readily available for solar cell production . This abundance has been a critical factor in the widespread adoption and scalability of silicon-based solar cells.
As one of the PV technologies with a long standing development history, the record efficiency of silicon solar cells at lab scale already exceeded 24% from about 20 years ago (Zhao et al., 1998).