Global Warming Impact on Thin-Film Photovoltaics: Materials, Efficiency and Lifetime

Abstract: Thin-film photovoltaic technology has emerged as a significant research field due to its use of low amounts of materials, low weight and ability to use flexible substrates and be produced in large areas. Thin-film technologies that have been developed include amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium gallium selenide, and emerging technologies include copper zinc tin sulfur-selenide, perovskites, organic photovoltaics and quantum-dot solar cells. It is recognized that these materials have varying optical, electrical, thermal and environmental characteristics, which will result in varying conversion efficiency, degradation characteristics and operational stability. Global warming is another challenge for the thin-film PV system. Higher temperatures and the rising frequency of heatwaves may increase the temperature at which PV devices are running. Raising the temperature tends to decrease PV output and speed up a number of degradation mechanisms. In addition, interacting with humidity, UV radiation, dust, and thermal cycling can cause chemical, mechanical and interfacial damage. Recent climate-oriented studies have shown that the exposure to high temperatures of PV systems may be augmented due to future warming and may lead to accelerated degradation and higher system life cycle cost. This theoretical review looks at the efficacy and lifetime of thin-film solar cells and the effects of global warming, concentrating on advanced materials, combinations of materials and thermal-management design. The underlying principles of PV conversion, covering photon absorption, charge generation, separation, transport and collection are discussed. Then, the climatic dependence of the PV performance and the most important degradation mechanisms are addressed. The review considers amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, copper indium gallium selenide, copper zinc tin sulfur-selenide, perovskites, organic photovoltaics and quantum-dot thin films. The areas of special interest are perovskite–silicon tandem structures, materials based on quantum dots, defect passivation, interface engineering and thermally conductive materials. Thermal-management techniques, such as passive cooling, radiative cooling, phase-change materials, active cooling and hybrid systems are also explored. There has been a rise in the interest of the research in the field of radiative cooling and multifunctional thermal materials to lower the PV operating temperature and enhance the PV system long-term stability. The review concludes that future development of thin-film PV should strive for more than just the highest initial laboratory efficiencies. Future studies, however, should tackle efficiency, temperature resilience, degradation resistance, lifetime, scalability, resource sustainability and climate adaptability all in one. Close coupling of semiconductor physics, materials science, thermal engineering, reliability science, and climate-aware system design will be needed for the climate-resilient thin-film photovoltaic technologies.