Advancements in Solar Cell Technologies: From Efficiency Breakthroughs to Novel Materials and Manufacturing Processes

Dear Colleagues,

Tapping the vast energy available from the sun in the form of electricity and chemical fuels has tremendous potential to address the global energy supply and climate change. Over the years, power conversion efficiencies have drastically improved due to both material innovation and advanced processing techniques. Further advancements in solar cell technologies are crucial to reducing the total cost of solar energy. This can be achieved by increasing their power conversion efficiency and incorporating new manufacturing approaches to make this technology commercially viable.

In recent years, the solar cell landscape has changed drastically, primarily driven by the emergence of perovskite materials and developments in thin film technologies such as CIGS, CZTS, and Sb₂Se₃. Perovskite-based solar cells are characterized by their low-cost fabrication and exceptional light-absorption properties. They demonstrated excellent efficiency improvements within a very short timespan. However, CIGS-, CZTS-, and Sb₂Se₃-based solar cells have the potential to become next-generation solar cells due to the advantages of abundant and environmentally friendly materials. These thin-film-technology-based solar cells offer a pathway to efficient energy conversion while addressing resource constraints. Continuous research is highly desired to enhance their performance, stability, and scalability, as well as to reduce costs.

Therefore, this Special Issue calls for high-quality research progress on advances in solar cell technologies.

The subjects covered in this Special Issue include, but are not limited to:

• Emerging materials for photovoltaics (perovskite, organic materials, etc.);
• Emerging chalcogenide thin films for solar energy harvesting;
• Wide bandgap (Eg > 1.5 eV) solar cell materials;
• Light trapping and enhanced light-absorption strategies;
• Band gap tunable materials for tandem;
• Tandem solar cells and multi-junction architectures;
• High-efficiency solar cell design;
• Multijunction approaches for high Voc and IR spectrum utilization;
• The development of transparent conductors (front and back contact);
• Technoeconomic analysis of the tandem solar cells;
• Stability and durability of solar cells in varying environments;
• Advanced manufacturing techniques and scalability;
• Integration of solar cells into building materials and consumer electronics;

Dr. Xiaojie Xu
Dr. Sudhanshu Shukla
Dr. Sandeep Kumar Maurya
Guest Editors

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