Monocrystalline vs Polycrystalline vs Thin film Solar Panels
Monocrystalline vs Polycrystalline Solar Panels
Mono means one while poly means many – just as in romantic relationships.
But what do they mean in terms of solar panels?
The difference starts during the process of creation. Monocrystalline silicon is created by slowly pulling a monocrystalline silicon seed crystal out of melted monocrystalline silicon.
Polycrystalline silicon is made through a simpler method. Instead of going through the slow and more expensive process of creating a single crystal, molten silicon is just put into a cast and cooled with a seed crystal. By using the casting method, the crystal surrounding the seed isn’t uniform and branches into many, smaller crystals, thus “polycrystalline”.
Differences between the two panels:
Thin film are lest efficient in terms of power production but very efficient in materials required to produce the same power.
Thin film requires more space to produce the same power as mono or poly
As thin film is diffused onto a substrate and the layers are very thin, the panel looks almost solid with thin vehicle lines. These lines are formed by the chemical etching process that produce each cell.
Thin film is rather new in terms of more modern process and therefore the life expectancy is unproven, however 20 years is the design expectation.
Overall, the production process for monocrystalline silicon is mature, and the process for polycrystalline in still maturing. As purity and process tolerances for polycrystalline Si improves, the performance gaps between the two are narrowing.
Thin film technologies are evolving and have great potential especially in the hot climates of Africa.
Mono means one while poly means many – just as in romantic relationships.
But what do they mean in terms of solar panels?
The difference starts during the process of creation. Monocrystalline silicon is created by slowly pulling a monocrystalline silicon seed crystal out of melted monocrystalline silicon.
Polycrystalline silicon is made through a simpler method. Instead of going through the slow and more expensive process of creating a single crystal, molten silicon is just put into a cast and cooled with a seed crystal. By using the casting method, the crystal surrounding the seed isn’t uniform and branches into many, smaller crystals, thus “polycrystalline”.
Differences between the two panels:
- Price
- Efficiency
Thin film are lest efficient in terms of power production but very efficient in materials required to produce the same power.
- Size
Thin film requires more space to produce the same power as mono or poly
- Looks
As thin film is diffused onto a substrate and the layers are very thin, the panel looks almost solid with thin vehicle lines. These lines are formed by the chemical etching process that produce each cell.
- Longevity
Thin film is rather new in terms of more modern process and therefore the life expectancy is unproven, however 20 years is the design expectation.
Overall, the production process for monocrystalline silicon is mature, and the process for polycrystalline in still maturing. As purity and process tolerances for polycrystalline Si improves, the performance gaps between the two are narrowing.
Thin film technologies are evolving and have great potential especially in the hot climates of Africa.
Thin-Film Solar Cells (TFSC)
Depositing one or several thin layers of photovoltaic material onto a substrate is the basic gist of how thin-film solar cells are manufactured. They are also known as thin-film photovoltaic cells (TFPV). The different types of thin-film solar cells can be categorised by which photovoltaic material is deposited onto the substrate:
Depending on the technology, thin-film module prototypes have reached efficiencies between 7–13% and production modules operate at about 9%. Future module efficiencies are expected to climb close to the about 10–16%.
The market for thin-film PV grew at a 60% annual rate from 2002 to 2007. In 2011, close to 5% of U.S. photovoltaic module shipments to the residential sector were based on thin-film.
Although thin film has advantages for flexibility the major advantage of poly or mono is is ability to function in high heat and they are less affected by partial shadowing.
A major disadvantage is however their size for equivalent output power.
Depositing one or several thin layers of photovoltaic material onto a substrate is the basic gist of how thin-film solar cells are manufactured. They are also known as thin-film photovoltaic cells (TFPV). The different types of thin-film solar cells can be categorised by which photovoltaic material is deposited onto the substrate:
- Amorphous silicon (a-Si)
- Cadmium telluride (CdTe)
- Copper indium gallium selenide (CIS/CIGS)
- Organic photovoltaic cells (OPC)
Depending on the technology, thin-film module prototypes have reached efficiencies between 7–13% and production modules operate at about 9%. Future module efficiencies are expected to climb close to the about 10–16%.
The market for thin-film PV grew at a 60% annual rate from 2002 to 2007. In 2011, close to 5% of U.S. photovoltaic module shipments to the residential sector were based on thin-film.
Although thin film has advantages for flexibility the major advantage of poly or mono is is ability to function in high heat and they are less affected by partial shadowing.
A major disadvantage is however their size for equivalent output power.