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Using low energy electron diffraction (LEED), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and high resolution photo-electron spectroscopy (HR-PES) techniques we have studied the annealing effect of one silicon…
Encapsulation layers are explored for passivating the surfaces of silicon to reduce optical absorption in the 1500-nm wavelength band. Surface-sensitive test structures consisting of microdisk resonators are fabricated for this purpose.…
In order to optimize the optoelectronic properties of novel solar cell architectures, such as the amorphous-crystalline interface in silicon heterojunction devices, we calculate and analyze the local microscopic structure at this interface…
Density functional theory and many-body (GW+BSE) calculations of transmittance, absorbance, and reflectance are performed on silicon and black phosphorus (BP). We find that a damping value of 0.01 used in the dielectric function calculation…
The last decade has increasingly seen the use of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) instead of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). This is due to various advantages of the former on the latter like its smaller size, lower operating voltage, higher…
We propose a light-trapping structure offering a significant enhancement of photovoltaic absorption in transparent organic solar cells operating at infrared while the visible light transmission keeps sufficiently high. The main mechanism of…
The monolithic tandem integration of third-generation solar energy materials on silicon holds great promise for photoelectrochemistry and photovoltaics. However, this can be challenging when it involves high-temperature reactive processes,…
We report the successful synthesis of nanotubules of thermoelectric materials gamma-NaxCoO2 using two different sol-gel routes aided by porous anodized aluminium oxide (AAO) membrane as supporting templates. The gamma-NaxCoO2 nanotubule…
Establishing the fundamental limit of nanophotonic light-trapping schemes is of paramount importance and is becoming increasingly urgent for current solar cell research. The standard theory of light trapping demonstrated that absorption…
In the present work we grow anodic TiO$_2$ nanotube layer with tube diameter ~ 500 nm and an open tube mouth. We use this morphology in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and show that these tubes allow the construction of hybrid…
Plasmonic Au-Pt core-shell heterojunctions were prepared as nanoemitters at pre-structured porous SiO2/Si interfaces. Silicon templates were obtained by oscillatory photocurrent cycles in fluoride containing solutions. Local formation of…
We report the development of broadband solar absorber coatings based on titanium suboxide composite thin films on aluminium substrates. The films are fabricated via scalable DC magnetron sputtering using a Ti target, followed by…
The atomic structure and composition of non-interfacial ITO and ITO-Si interfaces were studied with Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The films were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering on…
Implementation of an optically active material on silicon has been a persistent technological challenge. For tandem photovoltaics using a Si bottom cell, as well as for other optoelectronic applications, there has been a longstanding need…
We use scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and Auger electron spectroscopy to study the behavior of adsorbed phosphine (PH$_{3}$) on Si(001), as a function of annealing temperature, paying particular attention to the formation of the Si-P…
The case study of a 32-atoms Si nanocrystallite (NC) embedded in a SiO2 matrix, both crystalline and amorphous, or free-standing with different conditions of passivation and strain is analyzed through ab-initio approaches. The Si32/SiO2…
In the present work we compare TiO2 nanotube lift-off strategies for the construction of front-side illuminated dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Anodic nanotube layers were detached from the metallic back contact by using different…
Chalcogenide-based optical phase change materials (OPCMs) exhibit a large contrast in refractive index when reversibly switched between their stable amorphous and crystalline states. OPCMs have rapidly gained attention due to their…
Two dimensional (2D) semiconducting light absorbers, have recently considered as promising components to improve the efficiency in the photocatalytic hydrogen production via water splitting. In this work, by employing density functional…
The development of nanoscale solid-state devices exploiting the promising topological surface states of topological insulator materials requires careful device engineering and improved materials quality. For instance, the introduction of a…