Advances in Thin Films for Solar Energy Devices

Dear Colleagues,

Solar energy devices directly convert sun energy into electrical energy via a photovoltaic effect. During the past decades, a variety of photovoltaic devices have been developed, including silicon-based solar cells (monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and amorphous silicon), compound thin-film solar cells (CdTe, GaAs, CIGS, CZTS, etc.), and new-concept solar cells (perovskite, quantum dots, dye-sensitized, organic, etc.). The rise of new materials and new technologies has opened up new frontiers for the development of high-efficiency next-generation photovoltaics. In particular, the advances in thin films continuously lead to the improvement of device performance, enabling the use of low-cost materials and simple manufacturing processes to achieve effective capture of photons and rapid separation and extraction of photogenerated carriers.

This Special Issue of Materials, “Advances in Thin Films for Solar Energy Devices”, aims to present the current state-of-the-art research in novel thin-film properties and advanced film processing for photovoltaic applications. This includes the fabrication and characterization of thin films and corresponding devices, as well as related device physics, including photon and carrier management. In this Special Issue, we invite authors to contribute original research articles and review articles. Potential topics include but are not limited to thin-film properties, film processing, light management, carrier management, thin-film solar cells, perovskite solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, organic solar cells, semiconductors, etc.

We are looking forward to receiving your submissions!

Dr. Ru Zhou
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. Materials 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 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.

• thin film properties
• film processing
• light management
• carrier management
• thin-film solar cells
• perovskite solar cells
• quantum dot solar cells
• organic solar cells
• semiconductors