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The ideal band gap for a photovoltaic active layer for the solar spectrum is around 1.3 eV. However oxides with such values are rare. One of the most studied oxides to date as a photovoltaic active layer is the cuprous oxide Cu2O. Its band…
Luminescent coupling is a characteristic of multi-junction solar cells which has often been neglected in models of their performance. The effect describes the absorption of light emitted from a higher band gap semiconductor by a lower band…
Epitaxially-grown quantum well and quantum dot solar cells suffer from weak light absorption, strongly limiting their performance. Light trapping based on optical resonances is particularly relevant for such devices to increase light…
An essential step in the development of a new photovoltaic (PV) technology is choosing appropriate electron and hole extraction layers to make an efficient device. We recently proposed the minerals enargite (\enargite) and bournonite…
By means of atomistic tight-binding calculations, we investigate the transport properties of vertical devices made of two incommensurately misoriented graphene layers. With a chosen transport direction (Ox-axis), we define two classes of…
Black body materials prove promising candidates to meet future energy demands as they are able to harvest energy from the total bandwidth of solar radiation. Here, we report on high absorption (> 98 %) near-black body-like structures…
The lead-free double perovskite material (viz. Cs$_2$AgBiCl$_6$) has emerged as an efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to lead halide perovskites. To make Cs$_2$AgBiCl$_6$ optically active in the visible region of solar…
Radiative and non-radiative charge carrier recombination in thin-film diodes plays a key role in determining the efficiency of electronic devices made of next generation semiconductors such as organic, perovskite and nanocrystals. In this…
Solar cell designs based on disordered nanostructures tend to have higher efficiencies than structures with uniform absorbers, though the reason is poorly understood. To resolve this, we use a semi-analytic approach to determine the…
Kesterite is a leading candidate among inorganic thin-film photovoltaic technologies, offering sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions without reliance on critical raw materials. This study investigates the performance of…
Many recent advances in metal halide perovskite solar cell (PSC) performance are attributed to surface treatments which passivate interfacial trap states, minimise charge recombination and boost photovoltages. Surprisingly, these…
Silicon materials play a key role in many technologically relevant fields, ranging from the electronic to the photovoltaic industry. A systematic search for silicon allotropes was performed by employing a modified ab initio minima hopping…
The significant surge in energy use and escalating environmental concerns have sparked worldwide interest towards the study and implementation of solar cell technology. Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have garnered remarkable attention as an…
We propose an unexplored class of absorbing materials for high-efficiency solar cells: heterostructures of transition-metal oxides. In particular, LaVO_3 grown on SrTiO_3 has a direct band gap ~1.1 eV in the optimal range as well as an…
Record efficiency in chalcopyrite-based solar cells Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 is achieved using a gallium gradient to increase the band gap of the absorber towards the back side. Although this structure has successfully reduced recombination at the…
We investigate the electronic density redistribution of rotated bilayer graphene under a perpendicular electric field, showing that the layers are actually coupled even for large angles. This layer-layer coupling is evidenced by the charge…
Charge selective interlayers are crucial in thin-film photovoltaics, such as organic and Perovskite solar cells. Charge transporting layers (doped and undoped) constitute perhaps the most important class of charge selective interlayers;…
The photovoltaic reciprocity theory relates the electroluminescence spectrum of a solar cell under applied bias to the external photovoltaic quantum efficiency of the device as measured at short circuit conditions. Its derivation is based…
We present a continuum model for symmetry-breaking phase transformations in intercalation compounds, based on Ericksen's multi-well energy formulation. The model predicts the nucleation and growth of crystallographic microstructures in…
The power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells has recently improved beyond 20%. The active layers of these devices comprise of at least two organic semiconductors, forming a type II heterojunction. Hereby, the device performance is…