2017 Volume 96 Issue 2 Pages 111-122
The silicon solar cell occupies most of the photovoltaic market 60 years after the first solar cell was invented in 1954. The improvement of the conversion efficiency was made for long period by the enormous effort of many people. In this review, the structural change of the silicon solar cells and the progress of the efficiency are explained from the viewpoint of the surface passivation technologies that affect to the open circuit voltage and the temperature coefficient of output power. The development trend is also discussed. The cost reduction of silicon solar modules is significant with increasing the production volume, so that the electricity by the photovoltaic power generation came to account for several percent of the world electricity. Some new types of applications are introduced and the further effort for spreading photovoltaics is explained.
