Rigid or flexible. Foil or plastic. Thin or thick. Solar cells come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Solar technology is maturing, striving to grow into a streamlined and affordable energy industry that can power the human race for eons to come. But while the industry is coming of age, we can expect a cavalcade of innovations typically in the form of new solar cells - none totally right, none absolutely wrong and all showing a great deal of promise.
Even in its infancy, the solar industry has already spawned three generations of solar cells, each containing several different cell types. In the first generation, we find conventional silicon-based cells. The second typically receives the Thin-Film moniker and includes an even wider variety of cell types, some still using silicon. The third generation is thus far the most cutting edge, aiming to achieve high efficiencies while maintaining low production costs. The vast number of cell types coming out of those generations have individual characteristics of their own.
Solar cells are typically differentiated by their semiconductor material and their substrate (the backing that defines a cell's size and shape). Yet the same materials can be used differently. So we've paved the following long (and sometimes winding) road to guide you through the many manifestations of the modern solar cell, including the unique characteristics that separate one cell from another and ultimately, one solar module from another.
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