Advanced Thin Film Materials for Photovoltaic Applications II

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is dedicated to original research articles and critical reviews on "Advanced Thin Film Materials for Photovoltaic Applications". The main aim of this Special Issue is to share new knowledge on this subject by publishing the latest developments in materials and thin films for photovoltaic applications.

Research on thin film photovoltaics has been stagnant for a while, but the progress over the past few years has been very impressive. For example, CdTe, CuInGaSe₂, and perovskite thin film solar cells have all demonstrated ~22% conversion efficiencies. This is mainly due to the progress in understanding and developing new materials and device structures, and improvements in processing steps. It is apparent that many issues relevant to thin film solar cells are common to most of the material systems under investigation at present.

The photovoltaic (PV) community is also focusing its research on next-generation solar cells incorporating graded bandgap devices, nano- and micro-rod-type materials, grain-boundary-enhanced current collection, etc. to increase the solar-to-electric conversion efficiency. This call for papers invites comprehensive reviews from research leaders and relevant original research articles from active researchers in this subject area.

Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to:

• new materials for PV applications;
• CdTe and related materials;
• CuInGaSe₂ and related alloys;
• high-efficiency, dye-sensitized solar cells;
• perovskites;
• organic PV materials and devices;
• hybrid solar cells;
• graded bandgap multi-layer devices;
• new device concepts and architectures for next-generation solar cells.

Prof. Dr. I. M. Dharmadasa
Guest Editor

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. Coatings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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.

• Advanced Thin Film Materials for Photovoltaic Applications in Coatings (11 articles)