Thin-film solar cells are developed by assembling thin-film solar cells. Typically, these solar cells are created by depositing several layers of photon-absorbing materials layers of photovoltaic or PV materials on a substrate, including plastic, glass, or metal.
MIT researchers have developed a scalable fabrication technique to produce ultrathin, lightweight solar cells that can be stuck onto any surface. The thin-film solar cells weigh about 100 times less than conventional solar cells while generating about 18 times more power-per-kilogram.
Nanosolar makes thin-film solar cells by depositing layers of semiconductors on aluminum foil in a process similar to printing a newspaper. Cost has been the biggest barrier to widespread adoption of solar technology.
An innovative method for achieving light trapping in thin-film solar cells is the use of metallic nanostructures that sustain surface plasmons . Conduction electron excitations at the interface of a metal and a dielectric can be concentrated and folded over a thin layer of semiconductor material to increase absorption.
Thin-film solar cells (TFSCs), also known as second-generation technologies, are created by applying one or more layers of PV components in a very thin film to a glass, plastic, or metal substrate.
One of the significant drawbacks of thin-film solar cells as compared to mono crystalline modules is their shorter lifetime, though the extent to which this is an issue varies by material with the more established thin-film materials generally having longer lifetimes.