Related papers: A precisely regulating phase evolution strategy fo…
The surface states of the active TiO2 layer is crucial while fabricating an efficient solar cell. This work experimentally analyses the effect of exposing TiO2 based electron transport layer (ETL) to the ultraviolet-ozone (UV-O3) and…
To advance knowledge of K bonding in Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2 (CIGS) photovoltaic (PV) absorbers, recent Cu-K-In-Se phase growth studies have been extended to PV performance. First, the effect of distributing K throughout bulk Cu1-xKxInSe2…
Indium selenide compounds are promising materials for energy conversion, spintronic applications, and chemical sensing. However, it is difficult to grow stoichiometric indium selenide crystals due to the high equilibrium selenium vapor…
Hot carrier solar cells (HCSCs), harvesting excess energy of the hot carriers generated by above-band-gap photoexcitation, is crucial for pushing the solar cell efficiency beyond the Shockley Queisser limit, which is challenging to realize…
In previous work, we have shown that recent updated standard solar models cannot reproduce the radial profile of the sound speed at the base of the convective zone (CZ) and fail to predict the Li7 depletion. In parallel, helioseismology has…
Since the photoconversion efficiency $\eta$ of the silicon-based solar cells (SCs) under laboratory conditions is approaching the theoretical fundamental limit, further improvement of their performance requires theoretical modeling and/or…
Semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are promising for high-specific-power photovoltaics due to desirable band gaps, high absorption coefficients, and ideally dangling-bond-free surfaces. Despite their potential, the…
The Shockley-Queisser (SQ) limit provides a convenient metric for predicting light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of a solar cell based on the band gap of the light-absorbing layer. In reality, few materials approach this radiative…
Cu-based chalcogenides are promising materials for thin-film solar cells with more than 20% measured cell efficiency. Using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory, the optoelectronic properties of a group of…
Here, we report the full-fledged journey towards the material synthesis and characterization of few-layered/thin WSe$_2$ using sputtered W-films on SiO$_2$/Si substrates followed by electrical studies under dark and illumination conditions.…
Two-dimensional layered ReX2 (X = Se, S) has attracted researcher's great interest due to its unusual in-plane anisotropic optical and electrical properties and great potential in polarization-sensitive optoelectronic devices, while the…
The thermodynamic limit of photovoltaic efficiency for a single-junction solar cell can be readily predicted using the bandgap of the active light absorbing material. Such an approach overlooks the energy loss due to non-radiative…
Photochemical upconversion is a promising way to boost the efficiency of solar cells using triplet exciton annihilation. Currently, predicting the performance of photochemical upconversion devices is challenging. We present an open source…
CdTe is the most commercially successful thin-film photovoltaic technology to date. The recent development of Se-alloyed CdSe$_{x}$Te$_{1-x}$ layers in CdTe solar cells has led to higher device efficiencies, due to a lowered bandgap…
Cu(In,Ga)Se2 based solar cells exceed power conversion efficiencies of 23 %. Yet, the fill factor of these solar cells, with best values around 80 %, is relatively low (Si reaches 84.9%) mostly due to diode factors greater than one.…
Despite the rapid rise in perovskite solar cell efficiency, poor reproducibility remains a major barrier to commercialization. Film crystallization and device performance are highly sensitive to environmental factors during fabrication, yet…
Alloying Ag into Cu(In,Ga)Se$_2$ has enabled record solar-cell efficiencies ($\sim23.6\%$), yet their long-term stability remains in question because initio calculations predict a Ag-Cu miscibility gap near ambient temperature. By…
The conductivity and stability of specially treated PEDOT:PSS thin films are investigated. Based on the proposed treatment method, ITO-free PTB7:PC71BM organic solar cells are fabricated and the electrical properties of the cells are…
At ambient temperatures, CeRuSn exhibits an extraordinary structure with a coexistence of two types of Ce ions in a metallic environment, namely trivalent Ce3+ and intermediate valent Ce(4-x)+. Charge ordering produces a doubling of the…
Metastable defects can decisively influence the diode factor and thus the efficiency of a solar cell. The diode factor is also influenced by the doping level and the recombination mechanisms in the solar cell. Here we quantify how the…