Due to increase in demand of electricity and high environment hazard cause by fossil fuel in generation electricity, renewable energy (such as solar energy, wind energy and so on) researches are becoming mandatory to researchers especially scientists and engineers and in solar energy generation an electronic device is used to convert energy from sun into electricity which is known as solar photovoltaic cell and the efficiency of this device is improving by improving the materials used in manufacturing it. This paper was aimed to review the status of these materials for solar photovoltaic cell up to date, from the review it was discovered that the materials are classified based on the generations whereby their efficiencies are increasing from first generation to third generation. And the current market is mainly covered by the first two generations. The first generation comprises well-known medium/low cost technologies that lead to moderate yields. The second generation (thin-film technologies) includes devices that have lower efficiency albeit are cheaper to manufacture. The third generation presents the use of novel materials, as well as a great variability of designs, and comprises expensive but very efficient cells. Although there is fourth generation which their performance and stability was yet to be found as the review disclosed.

Energy is one of the prime mover of mankind and need of the energy is always increasing at the same time the sources of energy are depleting with respect to time. Because of these reasons, energy expert thinks of other sources of energy that are sustainable, among which solar energy is the freely renewable energy source and it is abundant in nature. This paper tend to design a stand-alone solar energy generation for a medium house in Kano state Nigeria, the results of the research revealed that a 300W solar PV array capacity of 30 modules, 22 (140Ah, 12V) batteries and 4 (90A, 202-253V) voltage regulator are needed to supply the electrical load of the house. The overall cost estimate of the system was ₦886,032 which is relatively high when compared to that of fossil fuel generator used by the house but the payback period of the system is estimated to be 2 years 4 months, which is obviously much shorter than the lifespan of the selected PV modules which is 30 years.