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Thin films are preferred for high photocurrent conversion efficiency, but strong photon absorption at photon energies below the bandgap (near and shortwave infrared) typically requires thicker semiconductor layers. To address this tradeoff,…
Gallium selenide (GaSe) is a novel two-dimensional material, which belongs to the layered III-VIA semiconductors family and attracted interest recently as it displays single-photon emitters at room temperature and strong optical…
Antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) is at the forefront of an emerging class of sustainable photovoltaic materials. Despite notable developments over the past decade, the light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of Sb2Se3 has reached a plateau of…
A novel electronic film solar energy concentrator with embedded micro-mirrors that track the sun is described. The potential viability of this new concept is presented. Due to miniaturization, the amount of material needed for the optical…
Cu2ZnSn(S, Se)4 (CZTSSe) is one of most competitive photovoltaic materials for its earth-abundant reserves, environmental friendliness, and high stability.The quality of CZTSSe absorber determines the power-conversion efficiency (PCE) of…
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…
We study the nonequilibrium steady state thermodynamics of a photodevice which can operate as a solar cell or a photoconductor, depending on the degree of asymmetry of the junction. The thermodynamic efficiency is captured by a single…
The electronic density in the Sun's inner core is inferred from the 8B, 7Be and pep neutrino flux measurements of the Super-Kamiokande, SNO and Borexino experiments. We have developed a new method in which we use the KamLAND detector…
First, we briefly review the solar abundance problem and its current status. We start with the description of the existing theoretical model of the Sun and its main uncertainties and proceed with the discussion of the observational evidence…
While silicon solar cells dominate global photovoltaic energy production, their continued improvement is hindered by the single junction limit. One potential solution is to use molecular singlet exciton fission to generate two electrons…
Because of its low-cost, silicon is the standard material for photovoltaic conversion. Yet, its band-edge absorption spectrum is narrower than the spectrum of the solar radiation, which reduces its conversion efficiency. In this paper, it…
The vast majority of modern microelectronic devices rely on carriers within semiconductors due to their integrability. Therefore, the performance of these devices is limited due to natural semiconductor properties such as band gap and…
Almost twenty years ago the light was slowed down to less than $10^{-7}$ of its vacuum speed in a cloud of ultracold atoms of sodium. Upon a sudden turn-off of the coupling laser, a slow light pulse can be imprinted on cold atoms such that…
Photoluminescence (PL) is a fundamental light-matter interaction, which conventionally involves the absorption of energetic photon, thermalization and the emission of a red-shifted photon. Conversely, in optical-refrigeration the absorption…
This invention deals with the broad general concept for focussing light. A mini-optics tracking and focussing system is presented for solar power conversion that ranges from an individual's portable system to solar conversion of electrical…
A modified detailed balance model is built to understand and quantify efficiency loss of perovskite solar cells. The modified model captures the light-absorption dependent short-circuit current, contact and transport-layer modified carrier…
We use a rigorous electromagnetic approach to analyze the fundamental limit of light-trapping enhancement in grating structures. This limit can exceed the bulk limit of 4n^2, but has significant angular dependency. We explicitly show that…
Reducing the thickness of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells is a key objective in order to reduce production cost and to improve sustainability. The major challenge for sub-micron Cu(In,Ga)Se2 cells is the recombination at the backside. In standard…
Two-step photon upconversion solar cells (TPU-SCs) belong to the class of solar cells that in principle can exceed the Shockley--Queisser limit for single-junction solar cells. A TPU-SC basically consists of a wide-gap and a narrow-gap…
Compound semiconductors have been the predominant building blocks for the current mid-infrared thermophotovoltaic devices relevant to sub-2000 K heat conversion and power beaming. However, the prohibitively high cost associated with these…