Thin-film solar cells are preferable for their cost-effective nature, least use of material, and an optimistic trend in the rise of efficiency. This paper presents a holistic review regarding 3 major types of thin-film solar cells including cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), and amorphous silicon (α-Si) from their inception to the best laboratory-developed module. The remarkable evolution, cell configuration, limitations, cell performance, and global market share of each technology are discussed. The reliability, availability of cell materials, and comparison of different properties are equally explored for the corresponding technologies. The emerging solar cell technologies holding some key factors and solutions for future development are also mentioned. The summarized part of this comparative study is targeted to help the readers to decipher possible research scopes considering proper applications and productions of solar cells.

The bandgap energy range of multiferroic bismuth ferrite is 2.2-2.7 eV, making it a promising candidate for photovoltaic (PV) applications. But its efficiency is still very low (<2%). This report thus focusses on the application of bismuth ferrite (BFO) engineered with cobalt (Co) doping and on the tuning of its bandgap energy (E g). BiFeO 3 is a unique multiferroic material that simultaneously displays both ferromagnetic and ferroelectric properties at room temperature. Co doped with pure BiFeO 3 (BiFe (1−x) Co x O 3 ; x = 0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15) was synthesized by the sol-gel method and annealed at 600 • C. X-ray diffraction shows the well-arranged crystalline structure and peaks of pure and doped-BiFeO 3 nanoparticles. A suitable reduction of E g has been observed for Co-doped BiFeO 3 , which may be appropriate for the effective use in PV solar cells. Thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry were used to investigate the thermal decomposition character of the xerogel powder and the pattern of pure and doped BiFeO 3 phases. Field emission scanning electron microscopy images show the surface crystallography of pure and Co-doped BiFeO 3. Co-doped BiFeO 3 has considerably reduced the crystallite and particle size of the samples. We have calculated the E g of pure and doped BiFeO 3 using a UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer and the results show the important reduction of E g (1.60 eV) of the Co-doped samples, which may have potential applications in PV solar cells.

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