Abstract
The generation of energy to meet the increasing global demand should not compromise
the environment and the future. Therefore, renewable energies have been identified
as potential alternatives to fossil fuels that are associated with CO2 emissions.
Subsequently, photovoltaic (PV) solar system is seen as the most versatile and the largest
source of electricity for the future globally. Nanotechnology is a facilitating tool that
offers a wide range of resources to resolve material challenges in different application
areas. This studies X-rays, energy trilemma, potential nanotechnology-based materials
for low-cost PV solar cell fabrication, and atomic layer deposition (ALD). In pursuance
of improved performance, PV solar-cell technologies have revolutionized from
first-generation PV solar cells to third-generation PV solar cells. The efficiency (19%)
of second-generation PV cells is higher than the efficiency (15%) of first-generation
cells. The second-generation PV cell technologies include a-Si, CdTe and Cu(In,Ga)Se2),
Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) cells. The third-generation PV cells are organic-inorganic hybrid
assemblies, nanostructured semiconductors, and molecular assemblies. This nanocomposite-
based technology aims at developing low-cost high efficiency PV solar cells. The
nanotechnology manufacturing technique, ALD, is seen as the future technology of PV
solar cell production.