Emerging Photovoltaic Solar Cell Designs, Performance and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The future of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells involves more than reducing their generation cost. The historical and long-standing challenge in photovoltaics has been lowering their cost and improving solar-to-electric conversion efficiency. This has largely driven both the manufacturing direction and the modality of the adoption of this technology. The next challenge in photovoltaics is not to make them cost less, but to make them do more.

In many technological transitions, as technology improves, new capabilities emerge, new applications arise, and new functionalities create new forms of social impact. In photovoltaics, this means moving beyond bulk electricity generation to include a variety of new capabilities: (1) seamless integration into a broad range of human systems, including buildings, food and water systems, and transport; (2) new solar cell/module/system functionality or characteristics that add value to the integrated system; and (3) taking into acocunt user interaction/needs. Getting PV to do more simultaneously expands the photovoltaic market, advances science and technology, and addresses key societal challenges, such as climate change.

Recent research has shown that solar power will become the go-to global source of primary energy, integrated into everyday life, work, play, and transport. Solar power will exist at every scale, from the local to the global, comprising a USD 100 trillion political economy. Deploying solar power on this scale will require integrated future planning and road mapping technological futures from the solar cell to manufacturing to national and international systems, including solar–electric and solar–hydrogen futures. Achieving this requires expanding and deepening the imagination of solar worlds, places, landscapes, and cultures; assessing pathways in political economy, and security; and alternative models of solar development.

This Special Issue seeks articles that explore the potential for solar to contribute to the development of new photovoltaic capabilities such as those discussed above, as well as other relevant topics, such as (1) integrative technological possibilities beyond electrons: agriculture, cities, and integrated climate solutions (mitigation, resilience, adaptation, and engineering); (2) integration with storage options beyond batteries and energy system options; and (3) untapped point-of-use applications for solar systems, in a variety of contexts and on all scales.

Prof. Dr. Christiana Honsberg
Dr. Clark Miller
Prof. Dr. Allen Barnett
Guest Editors

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