Thin-Film Solar Photovoltaics: Trends and Future Directions

TL;DR

This paper reviews current thin-film photovoltaic technologies, highlighting their advantages, recent efficiency achievements, and challenges like stability and material scarcity, to guide future research and application in renewable energy.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of existing and emerging thin-film PV technologies, analyzing their performance, advantages, and challenges for future development.

Findings

CdTe and CIGS achieve over 23% efficiency.

Perovskites reach 26.7% efficiency in labs.

Thin-film PV reduces material use and costs.

Abstract

Thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technologies address crucial challenges in solar energy applications, including scalability, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sustainability. This paper reviews critically, thin-film technologies such as amorphous silicon (a-Si), cadmium telluride (CdTe), and copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS). It also discusses emerging technologies, including perovskites, copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS), quantum dots (QDs), organic photovoltaics (OPV), and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Among these, CdTe and CIGS currently dominate commercial viability, achieving laboratory-scale efficiencies of 23.1% and 23.6%, respectively. Perovskites have notably advanced, reaching a laboratory efficiency of 26.7%. Thin-film PV technologies significantly reduce material use and manufacturing costs, offering distinct advantages such as flexibility and lightweight structures, thereby enabling diverse applications from building-integrated systems to portable electronic devices. Despite these benefits, broader adoption remains limited by challenges including long-term stability, toxicity concerns, and material scarcity. Addressing these challenges through advancements in tandem architectures, improved encapsulation strategies, and sustainable material sourcing is essential for thin-film PV technologies to substantially contribute to the global renewable energy transition.