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Polymers
Special Issues
Photovoltaic Semiconductor Materials
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Photovoltaic Semiconductor Materials

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2020) | Viewed by 11248

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Pradeep Varadwaj

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical System Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of TokyoBunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
Interests: non-covalent interactions; fullerene chemistry; metal halide perovskites; polymer modeling; theoretical chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Arpita Varadwaj

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8560, Japan
Interests: perovskite solar cells; metal oxides; endohedral fullerenes; surfaces and interfaces; noncovalent interactions; first-principle studies
Prof. Dr. Helder M. Marques

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Molecular Sciences Institute, School of Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2050, South Africa
Interests: noncovalent interactions; coordination chemistry; bioinorganic chemistry

Special Issue Information

The concept of organic–inorganic hybrids and all-inorganic materials has great potential for wide use at present, with many of these materials being photovoltaic or semiconductor. Together with the nature of atomic constituents, intra- and/or intermolecular noncovalent interactions and coordination chemistry play a crucial role in regulating ordering between and packing of the molecular domains and hence are the determinants of the geometry of a crystal and its optoelectronic properties and functionalities.

This Special Issue aims to deliver new insights and report on recent progress in the field of organic–inorganic and all-inorganic semiconductor materials. We also aim to present new ideas and achievements and possible future directions. An understanding and exploration of noncovalent interactions (hydrogen bonding, halogen bonding, and other sigma-hole interactions) in the rationale design of semiconducting crystals of diverse materials, as well as those in amorphous and semicrystalline polymer materials, is also within the scope of this Special Issue.

Prof. Pradeep R. Varadwaj
Dr. Arpita R. Varadwaj
Prof. Helder M. Marques
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • organic–inorganic hybrid semiconductors
  • photovoltaics
  • polymer based semiconductors
  • perovskite solar cells
  • crystal structures
  • noncovalent interactions
  • optoelectronic properties

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 2117 KiB  
Article
Facile Synthesis of Lacunary Keggin-Type Phosphotungstates-Decorated g-C3N4 Nanosheets for Enhancing Photocatalytic H2 Generation
by Na Lu, Menghan Sun, Xiaoming Wei, Peng Zhang and Zhenyi Zhang
Polymers 2020, 12(9), 1961; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12091961 - 29 Aug 2020
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2877
Abstract
In this work, the lacunary Keggin-type phosphotungstates of [PW9O34]9- (PW9) clusters were loaded onto the g-C3N4 nanosheets (NSs) to synthesize the phosphotungstate clusters-decorated 2D heterojunction photocatalysts by using the electrostatic-force driven self-assembly process. [...] Read more.
In this work, the lacunary Keggin-type phosphotungstates of [PW9O34]9- (PW9) clusters were loaded onto the g-C3N4 nanosheets (NSs) to synthesize the phosphotungstate clusters-decorated 2D heterojunction photocatalysts by using the electrostatic-force driven self-assembly process. The surface charge polarity of g-C3N4 NSs was changed from a negative to a positive charge through the acidizing treatment. The positively-charged g-C3N4 NSs allowed the negatively-charged PW9 clusters to be adsorbed and deposited onto the g-C3N4 NSs, forming the PW9/g-C3N4 heterojunction NSs. The as-synthesized samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and UV-VIS absorption spectra, respectively. The photocatalytic activity tests indicated that, upon simulated sunlight irradiation, the photocatalytic H2-generation rate of PW9/g-C3N4 heterojunction NSs (~23.8 μmol h−1) was ~3.3 times higher than that of the pure g-C3N4 NSs (~7.3 μmol h−1). The enhanced photocatalytic activity of PW9 cluster-decorated g-C3N4 NSs could be attributed to the enhanced separation process of the photoinduced charge-carriers, due to the Z-scheme-mediate charge transfer behavior across their hetero-interface. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic Semiconductor Materials)
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Review

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22 pages, 4131 KiB  
Review
Solar Cells for Indoor Applications: Progress and Development
by Swarup Biswas and Hyeok Kim
Polymers 2020, 12(6), 1338; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12061338 - 12 Jun 2020
Cited by 74 | Viewed by 7987
Abstract
The Internet of things (IoT) has been rapidly growing in the past few years. IoT connects numerous devices, such as wireless sensors, actuators, and wearable devices, to optimize and monitor daily activities. Most of these devices require power in the microwatt range and [...] Read more.
The Internet of things (IoT) has been rapidly growing in the past few years. IoT connects numerous devices, such as wireless sensors, actuators, and wearable devices, to optimize and monitor daily activities. Most of these devices require power in the microwatt range and operate indoors. To this end, a self-sustainable power source, such as a photovoltaic (PV) cell, which can harvest low-intensity indoor light, is appropriate. Recently, the development of highly efficient PV cells for indoor applications has attracted tremendous attention. Therefore, different types of PV materials, such as inorganic, dye-sensitized, organic, and perovskite materials, have been employed for harvesting low-intensity indoor light energy. Although considerable efforts have been made by researchers to develop low-cost, stable, and efficient PV cells for indoor applications, Extensive investigation is necessary to resolve some critical issues concerning PV cells, such as environmental stability, lifetime, large-area fabrication, mechanical flexibility, and production cost. To address these issues, a systematic review of these aspects will be highly useful to the research community. This study discusses the current status of the development of indoor PV cells based on previous reports. First, we have provided relevant background information. Then, we have described the different indoor light sources, and subsequently critically reviewed previous reports regarding indoor solar cells based on different active materials such as inorganic, dye-sensitized, organic, and perovskite. Finally, we have placed an attempt to provide insight into factors needed to further improve the feasibility of PV technology for indoor applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic Semiconductor Materials)
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