Materials and Optical Strategies for Solar Cells: Recent Advances & Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

Population growth and the ever increasing global energy demand has drawn attention to the sustainability of the human evolution model, with particular worries about the exploitation and depletion of world resources. In this scenario, the development of renewable energies is of utmost importance, and solar photovoltaics plays a major role among them. Solar energy is abundant, inextinguishable and widespread, and is available to be used by anyone on Earth.

The evolution of photovoltaic solar cells, which convert solar light into electrical power, has grown dramatically in the last decades. After the first generation of devices based on silicon, and the second generation thin film technologies, we are presently in the third generation era, which aims at increasing the efficiency, lowering the cost and providing additional features for specific applications like flexibility, transparency, lightness, printability, portability, wearability, etc.

Research into solar cells has therefore spread in many different directions, and can be distinguished in two main areas: the development of novel materials and architectures (composites, hybrids, nanostructures) for the effective absorption of solar photons and their electrical conversion, and the optimization of optical strategies (surface texturing, plasmonic structures, spectral up- and down-conversion layers) to enhance the overall efficiency of solar cells.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to provide an overview of recent advances in solar technologies and their appications. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, novel nanostructured materials, improved dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC), quantum-dot- and carbon-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSC-CDSSC), all-oxide solar cells, organic solar cells (OSC), perovskite solar cells (PSC) and innovative optical methods based on surface texturing, plasmonic nanoparticles or gratings, and spectral up- and down-converting layers.

Dr. Francesco Enrichi
Dr. Enrico Trave
Prof. Elti Cattaruzza
Guest Editors

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