A solar cell (also called photovoltaic cell or photoelectric cell) is a solid state electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon. It is a form of photoelectric cell, defined as a device whose electrical characteristics, such as current, voltage or resistance, vary when exposed to light.

The following are the different types of solar cells.

Amorphous Silicon solar cell (a-Si) Biohybrid solar cell Cadmium telluride solar cell (CdTe) Concentrated PV cell (CVP and HCVP) Copper indium gallium selenide solar cells (CI(G)S) Crystalline silicon solar cell (c-Si) Aluminium Back surface field (Al-BSF) Passivated Emitter Rear Cell (PERC) Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) Heterojunction (HJT) Float-zone silicon Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) Gallium arsenide germanium solar cell (GaAs) Hybrid solar cell List of solar engines Luminescent solar concentrator cell (LSC) Micromorph (tandem-cell using a-Si/μc-Si) Monocrystalline solar cell (mono-Si) Multi-junction solar cell (MJ) Nanocrystal solar cell Organic solar cell (OPV) Perovskite solar cell Photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) Plasmonic solar cell Polycrystalline solar cell (multi-Si) Quantum dot solar cell Solid-state solar cell Thin-film solar cell (TFSC) Wafer solar cell, or wafer-based solar cell crystalline Non concentrated hetrogeneos PV cell