The piezo-phototronic effect is about the enhanced separation, transport, and recombination of the photogenerated carriers using the piezoelectric polarization charges present in piezoelectric-semiconductor materials. Here, it is presented that the piezo-phototronic effect can be effectively applied to improve the relative conversion efficiency of a flexible solar cell based on n-ZnO/p-SnS core...

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) offer a path toward high-efficiency photovoltaics based on low-cost materials and processes. Spectral tunability via the quantum size effect facilitates absorption of specific wavelengths from across the sun's broad spectrum. CQD materials' ease of processing derives from their synthesis, storage, and processing in solution. Rapid advances have brought colloidal qu...

The recent discovery of "black" TiO2 nanoparticles with visible and infrared absorption has triggered an explosion of interest in the application of TiO2 in a diverse set of solar energy systems; however, what a black TiO2 nanoparticle really is remains a mystery. Here we elucidate more properties and try to understand the inner workings of black TiO2 nanoparticles with hydrogenated disorders i...

A spectrum evaluator based on four different dosimeter materials has been employed to estimate the spectral irradiances of solar radiation for exposed humans. The result is used to calculate the biologically effective irradiance using the erythemal action spectrum and a fish melanoma action spectrum. Measurements are made in winter at a sub-tropical site on the chest and shoulder of subjects du...

Thermochemical multistep waterand CO2-splitting processes are promising options to face future energy problems. Particularly, the possible incorporation of solar power makes these processes sustainable and environmentally attractive since only water, CO2 and solar power are used; the concentrated solar energy is converted into storable and transportable fuels. One of the major barriers to techn...

Plasmonic hot-electron devices are attractive candidates for light-energy harvesting and photodetection applications. For solid state devices, the most compact and straightforward architecture is the metal-semiconductor Schottky junction. However convenient, this structure introduces limitations such as the elevated dark current associated to thermionic emission, or constraints for device desig...

One of the most important goals in the field of renewable energy is the development of original solar cell schemes employing new materials to overcome the performance limitations of traditional solar cell devices. Among such innovative materials, nanostructures have emerged as an important class of materials that can be used to realize efficient photovoltaic devices. When these systems are impl...

Solar fuel production, the process whereby an energy-rich substance is produced using electrons provided by water under exposure to sunlight, requires the cooperative accumulation of multiple numbers of photons. Identifying the optimum reagents is a difficult challenge, even without imposing the restriction that these same materials must function as both sensitiser and catalyst. The blockade ca...

To realize a sustainable society in the near future, the development of clean, renewable, cheap and sustainable resources and the remediation of environmental pollutions using solar energy as the driving force would be important. During the past few decades, plen‐ ty of efforts have been focused on this area to develop solar light active materials to meet the increased energy and environmental ...

Photocatalytic hydrogen production from water has been considered to be one of the most promising solar-to-hydrogen conversion technologies. In the last decade, various functionalized nanostructures were designed to address the primary requirements for an efficient photocatalytic generation of hydrogen by using solar energy: visible-light activity, chemical stability, appropriate band-edge char...