Hole drift mobilities in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) are in the range of 10 to 1 cm/Vs at room-temperature. These low drift mobilities establish corresponding hole mobility limits to the power generation and useful thicknesses of the solar cells. The properties of as-deposited a-Si:H nip solar cells are quite close to their hole mobility limit, ...

The dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) provides a technically and economically credible alternative concept to present day p–n junction photovoltaic devices. In contrast to the conventional systems where the semiconductor assume both the task of light absorption and charge carrier transport the two functions are separated here. Light is absorbed by a sensitizer, which is anchored to the surface o...

A molecular modeling study was conducted on a series of six natural occurring chlorophylls. Quantum chemistry calculated orbital energies were used to estimate frequency of transitions between occupied molecular orbital and unoccupied molecular orbital energy levels of chlorophyll molecules in vivo conditions in standard (ASTMG173) environmental conditions. Obtained results are in good agreemen...

Conjugated polymers are excellent candidates for use in low-cost electronics and photovoltaics (PV)1. Polymer-based solar cells have reached power conversion efficiencies of 5% in recent reports2–6. Deposition of organics by screen printing, doctor blading, inkjet printing, and spray deposition is possible because these materials can be made soluble. These techniques are required for the high-t...

Front page headlines in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal in 1954 heralded to the world the demonstration of the first reasonably efficient solar cells, an event made possible by the rapid development of crystalline silicon technology for miniaturised electronics. Since that time, the majority of solar cells fabricated to date have been based on silicon in monocrystalline or large-...

nature photonics | VOL 6 | MARCH 2012 | www.nature.com/naturephotonics 153 Harnessing solar energy is one of the most promising ways to tackle today’s energy issues. Although the present dominant photovoltaic (PV) technology is based on inorganic materials, high material and manufacturing costs limit its wide acceptance1. Intensive research has been conducted towards the development of low-cost...

Polymer solar cells, a highly innovative research area for the last decade until today, are currently maturing with respect to understanding of their fundamental processes of operation. The increasing interest of the scientific community is well reflected by the—every year—dynamically rising number of publications. This chapter presents an overview of the developments in organic photovoltaics e...

The nanowire geometry provides potential advantages over planar waferbased or thin-film solar cells in every step of the photoconversion process. These advantages include reduced reflection, extreme light trapping, improved band gap tuning, facile strain relaxation, and increased defect tolerance. These benefits are not expected to increase the maximum efficiency above standard limits; instead,...

2.0 The resources at Arkansas are more than adequate. The team is very capable and can realize the stated goals. The results have shown that there is a chemical interaction between carbon nanotubes and P3HT. Solar panels based on carbon nanotube/P3HT organic materials were disappointingly low. Goals have been set to increase the efficiency. Some very preliminary results based on Si were given b...