Advances in Thin Films for Photovoltaic Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Photovoltaics (PV) is one of the major players for the transition to a sustainable energy future. The numbers give evidence of mature technologies and continuous progress of the PV industry: More than 100 GW of new PV power capacity was installed worldwide in 2018, making for over 500 GW total cumulative capacity at the end of the year. Alongside, research at solar cell level is active on many fronts to find more efficient and cost-effective solutions: high efficiency c-Si solar cell concepts (a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction, novel carrier-selective passivating contact schemes, etc.), thin-film technologies (hybrid perovskites, CIGS, CdTe, CZTS, III-V compounds, etc.), and tandem approaches combining c-Si and thin-film technologies to overcome the single-junction efficiency limit. In many cases, efficiencies in excess of 20% have been demonstrated. Ultimately, all these solar cell versions are stacked structures where thin films are widely employed with different roles, such as carrier selective contacts, passivation layers, electrodes (opaque and transparent), components with optical functionalities for efficient management of sunlight, or even as the core light-absorber (thin-film PV). Strong efforts are placed on improving layers and interfaces within the multilayered devices. Supplementary functional, protective, and decorative coatings both at cell and module level are also being investigated to improve performance, stability, and aesthetics of PV devices and ultimately of PV products.

The aim of this Special Issue is to collect and share the latest progress in terms of properties, fabrication processes, mechanisms, and applications of this broad variety of thin films for PV (active layers, supportive layers, and external coatings) in all the technologies under investigation and development. Full papers, communications, and reviews related to these topics are all welcome.

Dr. Lucia V Mercaldo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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