Monocrystalline silicon solar energy has the highest photoelectric conversion efficiency of 24%, which is the highest among all kinds of solar cells. However, the manufacturing cost of monocrystalline silicon solar cells is so high that it cannot be widely used. In terms of production cost, polysilicon solar cells are cheaper than monocrystalline silicon solar cells, but the photoelectric conversion efficiency of polysilicon solar cells is much lower. In addition, the service life of polysilicon solar cells is also shorter than monocrystalline silicon solar cells. Therefore, in terms of performance price ratio, monocrystalline silicon solar cells are slightly better.

Researchers have found that some compound semiconductor materials are suitable for solar photovoltaic conversion films. For example, CDs, CdTe; III-V compound semiconductors: GaAs, aipinp, etc; Thin film solar cells made of these semiconductors show good photoelectric conversion efficiency. Semiconductor materials with multiple gradient band gaps can expand the range of solar absorption spectrum and improve the efficiency of photoelectric conversion. So that thin-film solar cells have broad prospects for a large number of practical applications. Among these multicomponent semiconductor materials, Cu (in, GA) Se2 is a solar light absorbing material with excellent performance. Based on it, thin-film solar cells with significantly higher photoelectric conversion efficiency than silicon can be designed, and the photoelectric conversion rate can be 18%

The service life of solar panels is determined by the materials of cells, tempered glass, EVA, TPT, etc. generally, the service life of solar panels made by manufacturers who will use better materials can reach 25 years, but with the impact of the environment, the materials of solar panels will age with the change of time. Generally, the power will be reduced by 30% after 20 years and 70% after 25 years.