Recent progress in organic waste recycling materials for solar cell applications

Abstract

Abstract Organic waste-derived solar cells (OWSC) are a classification of third-generation photovoltaic cells in which one or more of its constituents are fabricated from organic waste material. They are an inspirational complement to the conventional third-generation solar cell with the potential of revolutionizing our future approach to solar cell manufacture. This article provides a study and summary of solar cells that fall under the category of OWSC. OWSC own their merit to low cost of manufacturing and environmental friendliness. This review article reveals different organic waste raw materials, preparation-to-assembly methodologies and novel approaches to solar cell manufacturing. Ideas for the optimization of the performance of OWSC are presented. The assembly configurations and photovoltaic parameters of reported OWSC are compared in detail. An overview of the trends pertaining to the research regarding OWSC in the past decade is given. Also, advantage and disadvantage of the different solar cell technologies are discussed and possible trends are proposed. Industrial organic waste raw materials such as paper, coal and plastics are amongst the least explored and yet most attractive for solar cell fabrication. The power conversion efficiencies for the cited works are mentioned while emphasizing the products and functions of the organic waste raw materials used.