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Recent Advances in Semiconductors for Solar Cell Devices
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Recent Advances in Semiconductors for Solar Cell Devices

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2025 | Viewed by 674

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Spiros Gardelis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Section of Condensed Matter Physics, Departments of Physics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Zografos, 15784 Athens, Greece
Interests: physics of semiconductors; nanoelectronics; photonics; plasmonics; spintronics; MEMS; solar cells;
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Semiconductors play a significant role in solar energy conversion to reduce carbon emissions caused by fossil fuels and other human activities and limit global warming. Recent advances in semiconductor solar cells have focused on efficiency improvement, cost-effectiveness and stability. Various materials have been studied including silicon, perovskites, compound semiconductors such as GdTe, GaAs or alloys such as copper indium gallium selenide (GIGS), nanostructures such as quantum dots, quantum wires, 2D transition metal dichalcogenides, graphene and related materials and organic materials.

Multiple-junction solar cells, developed by stacking multiple layers with different energy bandgaps, demonstrate considerable enhancement of conversion efficiency exceeding the Shockley–Queisser limit for a single-junction solar cell as they absorb a broader spectrum of solar light. 

Researchers have attempted to achieve the further enhancement of conversion efficiency using advanced antireflecting surfaces, plasmonics and metasurfaces by improving absorption and increasing captivation efficiency of solar light. Additionally, downshifting could improve conversion efficiency through the conversion of high-energy photons of the solar spectrum to lower-energy photos with higher quantum efficiency for the absorbing material of the solar cell, using suitable luminescent materials for the conversion.

We invite you to submit your original research articles and reviews on solar cells based on semiconductor materials and nanostructures. Both experimental and theoretical studies are welcome. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Semiconductors (inorganic and organic);
  • Perovskites;
  • Metal oxides;
  • Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides;
  • Nanostructures (quantum dots, quantum wires);
  • Coatings and surface structuring for efficient antireflection;
  • Plasmonics for absorption enhancement;
  • Metasurfaces for solar light collection;
  • Graphene-related materials;
  • Multiple junction solar cells/tandem.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Spiros Gardelis
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.

Keywords

  • semiconductor solar cells
  • organic solar cells
  • perovskites
  • tandem solar cells
  • antireflecting surfaces
  • quantum dots
  • quantum wires
  • metal oxides
  • 2D transition metal dechalcogenides
  • down-shifting
  • plasmonics
  • metasurfaces

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3821 KiB  
Article
Sulfur-Doped ZnO as Cathode Interlayer for Efficient Inverted Organic Solar Cells
by Ermioni Polydorou, Georgios Manginas, Georgios Chatzigiannakis, Zoi Georgiopoulou, Apostolis Verykios, Elias Sakellis, Maria Eleni Rizou, Vassilis Psycharis, Leonidas Palilis, Dimitris Davazoglou, Anastasia Soultati and Maria Vasilopoulou
Materials 2025, 18(8), 1767; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18081767 - 12 Apr 2025
Viewed by 330
Abstract
Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells (OSCs) represent a promising technology due to their cost-effectiveness, lightweight design and potential for flexible manufacturing. However, achieving a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) and long-term stability necessitates optimizing the interfacial layers. Zinc oxide (ZnO), commonly used [...] Read more.
Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells (OSCs) represent a promising technology due to their cost-effectiveness, lightweight design and potential for flexible manufacturing. However, achieving a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) and long-term stability necessitates optimizing the interfacial layers. Zinc oxide (ZnO), commonly used as an electron extraction layer (EEL) in inverted OSCs, suffers from surface defects that hinder device performance. Furthermore, the active control of its optoelectronic properties is highly desirable as the interfacial electron transport and extraction, exciton dissociation and non-radiative recombination are crucial for optimum solar cell operation. In this regard, this study investigates the sulfur doping of ZnO as a facile method to effectively increase ZnO conductivity, improve the interfacial electron transfer and, overall, enhance solar cell performance. ZnO films were sulfur-treated under various annealing temperatures, with the optimal condition found at 250 °C. Devices incorporating sulfur-doped ZnO (S-ZnO) exhibited a significant PCE improvement from 2.11% for the device with the pristine ZnO to 3.14% for the OSC based on the S-ZnO annealed at 250 °C, attributed to an enhanced short-circuit current density (Jsc) and fill factor (FF). Optical and structural analyses revealed that the sulfur treatment led to a small enhancement of the ZnO film crystallite size and an increased n-type transport capability. Additionally, the sulfurization of ZnO enhanced its electron extraction efficiency, exciton dissociation at the ZnO/photoactive layer interface and exciton/charge generation rate without altering the film morphology. These findings highlight the potential of sulfur doping as an easily implemented, straightforward approach to improving the performance of inverted OSCs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Semiconductors for Solar Cell Devices)
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16 pages, 2805 KiB  
Article
Numerical Investigation of Perovskite/Silicon Heterojunction Tandem Solar Cell with a Dual-Functional Layer of MoOX
by Tian-Yu Lu, Jin Wang and Xiao-Dong Feng
Materials 2025, 18(7), 1438; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18071438 - 24 Mar 2025
Viewed by 162
Abstract
This study proposed a novel perovskite/silicon heterojunction (SHJ) tandem device structure without an interlayer, represented as ITO/NiO/perovskite/SnO2/MoOX/i-a-Si:H/n-c-Si/i-a-Si:H/n-a-Si:H/Ag, which was investigated by Silvaco TCAD software. The recombination layer in this structure comprises the carrier transport layers of SnO2 and [...] Read more.
This study proposed a novel perovskite/silicon heterojunction (SHJ) tandem device structure without an interlayer, represented as ITO/NiO/perovskite/SnO2/MoOX/i-a-Si:H/n-c-Si/i-a-Si:H/n-a-Si:H/Ag, which was investigated by Silvaco TCAD software. The recombination layer in this structure comprises the carrier transport layers of SnO2 and MoOX, where MoOX serves dual functions, acting as the emitter for the SHJ bottom cell and as part of the recombination layer in the tandem cell. First, the effects of different recombination layers are analyzed, and the SnO2/MoOX layer demonstrates the best performance. Then, we systematically investigated the impact of the carrier concentration, interface defect density, thicknesses of the SnO2/MoOX layer, different hole transport layers (HTLs) for the top cell, absorption layer thicknesses, and perovskite defect density on device performance. The optimal carrier concentration in the recombination layer should exceed 5 × 1019 cm−3, the interface defect density should be below 1 × 1016 cm−2, and the thicknesses of SnO2/MoOX should be kept at 20 nm/20 nm. CuSCN has been found to be the optimal HTL for the top cell. When the silicon absorption layer is 200 μm, the perovskite layer thickness is 470 nm, and the defect density of the perovskite layer is 1011 cm−3, the planar structure can achieve the best performance of 32.56%. Finally, we studied the effect of surface texturing on the SHJ bottom cell, achieving a power conversion efficiency of 35.31% for the tandem cell. Our simulation results suggest that the simplified perovskite/SHJ tandem solar cell with a dual-functional MoOX layer has the potential to provide a viable pathway for developing high-efficiency tandem devices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Semiconductors for Solar Cell Devices)
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