Status of emerging materials photovoltaic technologies

Cost studies show that low photovoltaic collector cost can be achieved by ten percent efficient thin-film solar cells fabricated by low cost processes, such as electrodeposition, chemical spray, chemical vapor deposition, sputtering, and vacuum deposition. The Emergy Materials task of the Department of Energy Photovoltaic Research and Development program addresses novel thin-film solar cell technologies to meet the above goals. the materials presently under study are cadmium telluride (CdTe), zinc phosphide (Zn
3
P
2
), copper selenide (Cu
2
Se), tungsten diselenide (WSe
2
) and zinc silicon arsenide (ZnSiAs
2
). The status of these rapidly advancing, new solar cell technologies will be reviewed.