Nature 267, 504 - 505 (09 June 1977); doi:10.1038/267504a0

A proposed cadmium−selenium film−electrolyte Schottky barrier solar cell

J. R. OWEN

Materials and Energy Research Centre, PO Box 41−2927, Tehran, Iran

ECONOMIC analyses of photovoltaic solar cells show that a considerable manufacturing cost reduction will be required before such devices can give a positive contribution to the World's energy needs. To this end, efforts have been made to divert some research work from the high-quality single-crystal technology, which supports the present commercial solar cells, to alternative systems incorporating less pure, polycrystalline materials, deposited as thin layers to avoid wastage of expensive elements. This letter describes the operation of a novel system which may be constructed from relatively inexpensive materials, yet which converts solar radiation into electrical energy with an efficiency greater than some similar systems previously reported.

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