Nano- and microstructures for energy conversion: materials and devices
This thematic issue is a collection of contributions on novel developments and trends in the field of renewable energy conversion using nano- and microscale materials. The key topics include fundamental aspects of structural and chemical nanoscale characterization, new materials and especially device concepts and also cover strategies and ideas for future developments in this field.
- New material and device concepts (including metamaterials, organic/hybrid/quantum dot structures, thermoelectrics, various nano- and microscale approaches, advanced device concepts)
- Light and current management (ranging from photonics, light concentration, and charge carrier collection to interfaces and surfaces)
- Advanced analytical methods (related to chemical composition, structural characterization, optoelectronic properties)
- Full Research Paper
- Published 03 Aug 2018
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Figure 1: Schematic illustration of the photo-electrochemical deposition of metallic Pt on silicon nanostruct...
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Figure 2: (a) SEM images of a silicon nanocone (left), an inverted nanocone (middle) and a nanowire (right) c...
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Figure 3: a) An overlay image of a backscattered electron (red; in-lens mirror detector) and secondary electr...
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Figure 4: (a) Overlay images of backscattered electron (red) and secondary-electron (grey) SEM images after p...
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- Full Research Paper
- Published 08 Aug 2018
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Figure 1: Development of Sb2S3 technology. Solar cells with extremely thin absorber architecture [1-6,29] reach the h...
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Figure 2: SEM images of Sb2S3 thin films after crystallization at 265 °C. Direct thermal decomposition of the...
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Figure 3: Crystallization in the Sb-TU (a–d) and Sb-BDC (e–h) process. AFM measurements of the Sb-TU route sh...
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Figure 4: Chemical structure of the applied polymers (a). Sun simulator (b) and external quantum efficiency (...
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Figure 5: Limitations of different Sb2S3 technologies (same data and color code as in Figure 1) and other absorber ma...
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- Review
- Published 21 Aug 2018
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Figure 1: Temporal evolution of (a) the power conversion efficiency of lead-HP-based solar cells and (b) the ...
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Figure 2: Schemes of conventional (a) and inverted (b) HP-based solar cell; energy diagrams of selected Sn-ba...
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Figure 3: (a,b) Internal photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) spectra of solar cells comprising a s...
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Figure 4: (a,b) Photocurrent density–voltage curves recorded for the solar cells based on MASnI3 HPs (a) and ...
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Figure 5: (a) Scheme of a possible mechanism of Sn-based HP transformation upon reaction with hydrazine; (b,c...
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Figure 6: (a) Photographs of HP films produced from different CsSnI3−xBrx and CsSnBr3−xCl3 compounds (bandgap...
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Figure 7: TEM (a–h) and STEM (j) images of CsSnI3 nanocrystals (NCs): (a) Cs2SnI6 in the form of NCs (b), nan...
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Figure 8: (a) Absorption spectra of (CH3(CH2)3NH3)2(CH3NH3)n−1SnnI3n+1 homological HPs; (b) energy level alig...
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Figure 9: (a) Absorption spectra of AGeI3 HPs with different cations; (b) energy level alignment in solar cel...
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Figure 10: Structure (a), absorption spectra (b) and photographs (c) of (CH3NH3)2CuClxBr4−x HPs of different c...
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Figure 11: (a) Cyclic photoresponse of a red light photodetector based on CsBi3I10 HP with a freshly prepared ...
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Figure 12: Schematic structure of MASb2ClxI9−x HP (a) and current–voltage characteristics of a solar cell base...
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Figure 13: Schematic of the influence of the cation size on the structure of A3Sb2I9 (A = Cs, Rb). Reprinted a...
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Figure 14: Energy diagram (a), normalized IPCE tested for a period of 30 days (b) as well as current–voltage c...
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Figure 15: (a) Evolution of the crystal structure from CsPbCl3 to Cs2AgInCl6 HP; (b) Crystal structure of Cs2A...
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Figure 16: Scheme of the synthesis of Cs2AgBiX6 NCs (a–c) and TEM images of Cs2AgBiCl6 (d), Cs2AgBiBr6 (e), an...
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- Full Research Paper
- Published 28 Aug 2018
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Figure 1: Vertical cross-section of a sliced three-layer structure with texture applied to the bottom layer (...
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Figure 2: Principle of the coupled modeling approach (CMA). RCWA is applied to the parts of the structure whe...
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Figure 3: Schematic representation of the simulated HJ Si solar cell structure including illustration of the ...
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Figure 4: The top and cross-sectional views of the simulated partial structures, applied to the front part of...
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Figure 5: Analysis of the RCWA convergence for the nanoscale textures. All graphs on the left hand side corre...
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Figure 6: Analysis of RCWA convergence for micrometer-sized textures. Left hand side graphs correspond to the...
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Figure 7: The effect of increasing the pyramid fraction (PF) in the texture in the front part of the solar ce...
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Figure 8: Simulated absorptances in the c-Si layer of the HJ Si solar cell using RCWA, RT/TMM (CROWM simulato...
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- Full Research Paper
- Published 05 Sep 2018
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Figure 1: SEM micrographs of the different synthesized Si/C composite materials with a carbon to silicon rati...
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Figure 2: FIB-SEM cross section of the C:Si 80:20 composite (a, b) and SEM micrographs of the pure Si-NPs (c,...
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Figure 3: TGA results (a), XRD patterns (b) and Raman spectra (c) of the Si/C composites with a carbon to sil...
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Figure 4: Constant current rate performance investigations at different charge/discharge currents (a) of the ...
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Figure 5: SEM micrographs of cycled electrodes after 13 cycles (including 3 formation cycles) of the C:Si 90:...
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Figure 6: Constant current cycling of prelithiated (a, b) and non-prelithiated (a, c) C:Si 90:10 negative ele...
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Figure 7: First cycle cell voltage (a, c) and anodic potential (b, d) profile using a full cell set-up with a...
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Figure 8: Development of the anode (negative electrode) and cathode (positive electrode) potential vs Li/Li+ ...
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- Full Research Paper
- Published 12 Sep 2018
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Figure 1: (a) Kirkendall diffusion-induced growth of porous Co3O4. (b) X-ray diffraction pattern of Co3O4 fil...
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Figure 2: (a) Optical characteristics including the transmittance and absorbance spectra of Co3O4 films. (b) ...
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Figure 3: Thickness-dependent linear sweep voltammetry of a Co3O4 working electrode under pulsed light. (a) 0...
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Figure 4: Surface morphology of the 170 nm thick Co3O4 film on FTO/glass showing (a) the pores with diameters...
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Figure 5: (a) Transmittance electron micrograph featuring nanocrystalline features of a Co3O4 electrode prepa...
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Figure 6: (a) PEC cell setup by using dual Co3O4 electrodes to show O2 gas generation in OER side and H2 gas ...
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Figure 7: PEC cell setup with dual Co3O4 electrodes for volumetric measurements.
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Figure 8: (a) Current density as a function of the time. The Co3O4 electrode was biased at 1.75 V in 1 M KOH ...
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- Published 12 Dec 2018
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Figure 1: Design of a planar CIGSe solar cell.
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Figure 2: Scheme of the micro-concentrator solar cell concept.
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Figure 3: Schematic representation of ordered indium island growth on fs-laser structured, molybdenum-coated ...
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Figure 4: Optical micrographs of fs-laser-treated glass. For each line, the number of pulses per spot, N, is ...
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Figure 5: Scanning electron micrographs of laser-induced modifications on glass. Laser parameters: F = 1.63 J...
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Figure 6: Scanning electron micrographs of individual laser-generated ablation spots on glass (top row) and c...
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Figure 7: Optical micrographs of a laser-generated spot array on glass (left) and a corresponding array after...
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Figure 8: Scheme of laser-induced forward transfer. The scale bars in the OM insets on the right-hand side co...
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Figure 9: Optical micrographs of LIFT deposits on molybdenum on glass. Cu–In donor layer: 20 nm copper, 200 n...
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Figure 10: Scheme of the bottom-up process for the preparation of CISe or CIGSe microabsorbers via the nucleat...
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Figure 11: Processing of In precursor islands prepared by the nucleation approach (left) to CISe micro absorbe...
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Figure 12: Scheme of the process for manufacturing solar cells from microabsorbers. a) CISe absorber, b) spin ...
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Figure 13: Cross section of a CISe micro absorber island after processing to a micro cell imaged by tilted-vie...
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Figure 14: Electrical characterization with different light concentration factors for a CISe microcell from th...
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Figure 15: Electrical characterization under various light concentration factors for CIGSe micro cell from nuc...
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Figure 16: Electrical characterization under various light concentration factors for CIGSe micro cell from LIF...
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- Full Research Paper
- Published 31 Jan 2019
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Figure 1: Scanning electron microscopy pictures of (a) bare and (b) coated nanowires on the c-Si substrate. I...
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Figure 2: Measured (a) EQE and (b) IQE of the best nanowire heterojunction solar cell (NW) and of the flat he...
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Figure 3: 3D rendering of the real device (left) and of the simulation model (right). The differences are: th...
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Figure 4: Calculated absorption in c-Si, as function of the wavelength, of the flat reference (FLAT, blue) an...
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Figure 5: Distribution of the electric field inside the absorber layer of the NW device for three different w...
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Figure 6: On the left, the implied photocurrent density generated in the c-Si absorber, as a function of cros...
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Figure 7: Calculated implied photocurrent density inside the c-Si layer as a function of the angle of inciden...
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