Silicon nanowire (SiNW) based solar cells are a promising candidate for third generation solar cells with high effi¬ciency, which will further reduce the cost of the PV modules, making it competitive with conventional energy sources. In this paper the wet chemical etch¬ing process for generating silicon nanowires is investigated on different low cost substrate materials. These nanowires are useful for a radial pn-junc¬tion solar cell with core-shell configuration, which allows for using absorber materials with low carrier lifetime. In this work, wet chemical nanowire etching is applied to edge-defined film-fed growth (EFG) mc-Si wafers, mc-Si wafers made from metallurgical grade Si, multicrystalline (mc-Si) thin films deposited on glass, and thin crystallized films deposited on mc-Si wafers pro¬duced from metallurgical grade Si. A proof of concept for using low-cost materials in PV is demonstrated for SiNWs prepared on mc-Si wafer produced from highly doped MG-Si.