Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.5
2.7
Journals
Applied Sciences
Special Issues
Prospects in III-Nitride and Wide Band-gap Nanostructures for Photovoltaics
share announcement

Prospects in III-Nitride and Wide Band-gap Nanostructures for Photovoltaics

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Optics and Lasers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2019) | Viewed by 6278

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Fernando B. Naranjo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Photonics Engineering Group (GRIFO), Electronics Department, EPS, University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain
Interests: sputtering; nitrides; solar cells; mode-locked lasers; saturable absorbers; optoelectronic devices
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Susana Fernández

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Energy department, Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Interests: material deposition by magnetron sputtering; transparent conductive oxides; hybrid transparent electrodes; antireflective coatings; selective contacts; nitride-based light absorbers; optoelectronic devices
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The photovoltaic research field is in continuous development. Several challenges this area presented in the past have been solved nowadays with the combination of conventional and novel materials. In this sense, the third generation of solar cells emerges as a solution to allow the use of photovoltaic technology in new application areas. The use of III-nitride and other advanced wide-band gap materials in the photovoltaic field recently opened the possibility of overcoming the bottelneck of conventional Si-based technology, as they allow the expanding of the efficient absorption region of Si to UV without increasing the production costs.

This Special Issue is proposed to present the recent developments in this field, with a collection of articles covering novel results and findings related to this interesting research area. The topics should be related, not only to the application of pure of III-nitrides or advanced wide-band gap materials to photovoltaics, but also their combination with other conventional semiconductors like Si or GaAs. 

Prof. Fernando B. Naranjo
Dr. Susana Fernádez Ruano
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. Applied Sciences 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 2400 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

  • III-nitrides
  • Advanced TCOs
  • Silicon technology
  • Vacuum deposition techniques
  • Photovoltaics
  • Solar cell technology
  • Nanostructures
  • Thin film technology
  • Compound semiconductor processing...

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 2592 KiB  
Article
Coupling and Trapping of Light in Thin-Film Solar Cells Using Modulated Interface Textures
by Jürgen Hüpkes, Gabrielle C. E. Jost, Tsvetelina Merdzhanova, Jorj I. Owen and Thomas Zimmermann
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(21), 4648; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9214648 - 01 Nov 2019
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3329
Abstract
Increasing the efficiency of solar cells relies on light management. This becomes increasingly important for thin-film technologies, but it is also relevant for poorly absorbing semiconductors like silicon. Exemplarily, the performance of a-Si:H/µc-Si:H tandem solar cells strongly depends on the texture of the [...] Read more.
Increasing the efficiency of solar cells relies on light management. This becomes increasingly important for thin-film technologies, but it is also relevant for poorly absorbing semiconductors like silicon. Exemplarily, the performance of a-Si:H/µc-Si:H tandem solar cells strongly depends on the texture of the front and rear contact surfaces. The rear contact interface texture usually results from the front surface texture and the subsequent absorber growth. A well-textured front contact facilitates light-coupling to the solar cell and light-trapping within the device. A variety of differently textured ZnO:Al front contacts were sputter deposited and subsequently texture etched. The optical performance of a-Si:H/µc-Si:H tandem solar cells were evaluated regarding the two effects: light-coupling and light-trapping. A connection between the front contact texture and the two optical effects is demonstrated, specifically, it is shown that both are induced by different texture properties. These findings can be transferred to any solar cell technologies, like copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) or perovskites, where light management and modifications of surface textures by subsequent film growth have to be considered. A modulated surface texture of the ZnO:Al front contact was realized using two etching steps. Improved light-coupling and light-trapping in silicon thin-film solar cells lead to 12.5% efficiency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prospects in III-Nitride and Wide Band-gap Nanostructures for Photovoltaics)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

10 pages, 1824 KiB  
Article
Carrier Dynamics in InGaN/GaN on the Basis of Different In Concentrations
by Zhi Ting Ye, Hong Thai Nguyen, Shih-Wei Feng, Hsiang-Chen Wang and Hwei-Ling Chou
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(11), 2279; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9112279 - 03 Jun 2019
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2592
Abstract
InGaN/GaN samples grown on c-plane sapphire substrate with different In concentrations by metal organic chemical vapor deposition are demonstrated. The subsequent capping GaN layer growth opens a possibility for dislocation reduction due to the lateral strain relaxation in growth geometry. We present the [...] Read more.
InGaN/GaN samples grown on c-plane sapphire substrate with different In concentrations by metal organic chemical vapor deposition are demonstrated. The subsequent capping GaN layer growth opens a possibility for dislocation reduction due to the lateral strain relaxation in growth geometry. We present the further growth optimization and innovative characterization of InGaN layers overgrown on different structures with varying In concentrations. The photoelectrical and optical properties of the InGaN layers with/without capping GaN layer are investigated by time-resolved picosecond transient grating and temperature dependence photoluminescence. We note a 10-fold increase in carrier lifetime in the InGaN layers when the sample structure changed from PIN to single InGaN layer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prospects in III-Nitride and Wide Band-gap Nanostructures for Photovoltaics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop