Thin-film solar cells are a type of solar cell made by depositing one or more thin layers (thin films or TFs) of photovoltaic material onto a substrate, such as glass, plastic or metal.

A perovskite solar cell is a type of solar cell that includes a perovskite-structured compound, most commonly a hybrid organic–inorganic lead or tin halide-based material as the light-harvesting active layer.

A dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC, DSC, DYSCWan, Haiying "Dye Sensitized Solar Cells", University of Alabama Department of Chemistry, p. 3, published 2004. or Grätzel cell) is a low-cost solar cell belonging to the group of thin film solar cells.

Multi-junction solar cells are solar cells with multiple p–n junctions made of different semiconductor materials.

An organic solar cell or plastic solar cell is a type of photovoltaic that uses organic electronics, a branch of electronics that deals with conductive organic polymers or small organic molecules, for light absorption and charge transport to produce electricity from sunlight by the photovoltaic effect.

A quantum dot solar cell is a solar cell design that uses quantum dots as the captivating photovoltaic material.