Table 12.
The comparison of various types of solar cells.
| Item | The first generation PV (Si-wafer technology) | The second generation PV (thin-film technology) | The third generation PV (multi-junction technology) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technology | Single Crystalline Silicon (c-Si) |
Polycrystalline Silicon (p-Si) |
Copper Indium Gallium Di-Selenide (CIS/CIGS) |
Amorphous Silicon (a-Si) |
Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) | Cadmium Telluride Cells (CdTe) |
Dye-sensitized (DSSC) | Organic or Polymer (OPV) | Copper zinc tin sulphide solar cell (CZTS) | Perovskite solar cell | Quantum dot solar cell |
| Semiconductor materials | c-Si or p-Si | CdTe, a-Si, CIGS or GaAs | GaInP, InGaAs or Ge | ||||||||
| Commercial production mature | Large-scale | Large-scale | Medium-scale | Small-scale | Small-scale | Large-scale | R&D | R&D | R&D | R&D | R&D |
| PV module efficiency | 14–19% | 13–16% | 7–11% | 7–9% | 25%–30% | 6%–8% | 25–30% | 10%–11% | 30%–33% | 6%–8% | 19%–23% |
| Maximum PV module efficiency | 25% | 20.4% | 19.8% | 12.2% | 30% | 10.6% | 40% | 11% | 42% | 16.5% | 26.7% |
| Maximum PV module output power | 320 W | N/A | 120 W | 300 W | 300 W | 120 W | 120 W | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |