Single crystal silicon solar cells are still predominant in the market due to the abundance of silicon on earth and their acceptable efficiency. Different solar-cell structures of single crystalline Si have been investigated to boost efficiency; the heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) structure is currently the leading technology. The record efficiency values of state-of-the art HIT ...

A simple and fast method was developed to determine the quantum efficiency and short circuit current of thin-film silicon solar cells prepared on periodically or randomly textured surfaces. The optics was studied for microcrystalline thin-film silicon solar cells with integrated periodic and random surface textures. Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis (RCWA) was used to investigate the behaviour of ...

UNLABELLED Organic/silicon nanowires (SiNWs) hybrid solar cells have recently been recognized as one of potentially low-cost candidates for photovoltaic application. Here, we have controllably prepared a series of uniform silicon nanowires (SiNWs) with various diameters on silicon substrate by metal-assisted chemical etching followed by thermal oxidization, and then fabricated the organic/SiNWs...

Silicon heterojunction solar cells have high opencircuit voltages thanks to excellent passivation of the wafer surfaces by thin intrinsic amorphous silicon (aSi:H) layers deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). By using in-situ plasma diagnostics and ex-situ film characterization, we show that the best a-Si:H films for passivation are produced from deposition regimes clo...

Solar energy is only renewable energy source that does not depend on earth's resources. Current industrial manufacturing of solar cells use manufacturing steps that have many sustainable issues. So it becomes very important to promote technologies that are more sustainable than current state of the art. This paper will look into prospects of microwave heating for silicon solar cell fabrication ...

Thin film silicon tandem junction solar cells based on amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and microcrystalline silicon (lc-Si:H) were developed with focus on high open-circuit voltages for the application as photocathodes in integrated photoelectrochemical cells for water electrolysis. By adjusting various parameters in the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition process of the individual lc-Si:H sin...

We are glad to announce the Special Issue "Nanostructured Solar Cells", published in Nanomaterials. This issue consists of eight articles, two communications, and one review paper, covering major important aspects of nanostructured solar cells of varying types. From fundamental physicochemical investigations to technological advances, and from single junction solar cells (silicon solar cell, dy...

An approximate expression proposed by Green predicts the maximum obtainable fill factor (FF) of a solar cell from its open-circuit voltage (Voc). The expression was originally suggested for silicon solar cells that behave according to a single-diode model and, in addition to Voc, it requires an ideality factor as input. It is now commonly applied to silicon cells by assuming a unity ideality fa...

Light-trapping structures are more demanding for optimal light absorption in thin film silicon solar cells. Accordingly, new design engineering of solar cells has been emphasized and found to be effective to achieve improved performance. This paper deals with a design of thin film silicon solar cells and explores the influence of bottom grating and combination of top and bottom (dual) grating a...

Silicon-rich-nitride (SRN) films were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) by changing the silane and ammonia flow rates. These films were thermally annealed for precipitation of silicon nanocrystals. Measurements of refractive indices and FTIR absorption spectra of these films indicated increase in the silicon content. Thermally annealed SRN films exhibited photolumi...