Nanotechnology in the Development of Photovoltaic Cells

Over fifty years, numerous studies have been performed on different design aspects and performance characteristics of photovoltaic (PV) cells with a common goal of producing fully integrated PV modules to compete with the traditional energy sources. A relatively new field of nanotechnology has opened up new and promising possibilities to improve environmental quality and economic prosperity. This paper reviews the performance of traditional PV cells and outlines the recent developments in nano-tech related to solar cells. Developments in nano-tech solar cells via nanotubes, quantum dots, and hot carriers could reduce the cost of PV cells and modules for bulk power generation as well as improve the cell conversion efficiency. The current production growth and the cost of PV cells and modules are also discussed.