Crystalline Materials for Energy Conversion Applications in Solar Cells
A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials for Energy Applications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 March 2025 | Viewed by 604
Special Issue Editors
Interests: renewable energy; photovoltaics; inorganic nanomaterials; luminescent nanocrystals; perovskite; computational chemistry; spectroscopy
Interests: energy-converting materials; advanced materials; MOCVD; sol-gel synthesis; thin film fabrication; inorganic materials; photovoltaic; material characterization
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The generation of energy using photovoltaics is a perpetual hot topic in the context of green deals and policies, with research always seeking innovative materials or optimizing well-established technologies. For instance, the focused development of perovskite solar cells has made this technology one of the most promising in the area of photovoltaics in recent decades, enabling it to deliver high conversion efficiencies while using easy and cheap material preparation methodologies.
In the active photovoltaic materials commonly used in solar cells, most absorbed photons have energies within the visible region of the solar spectrum, while those lying in the ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) ranges of the spectrum are generally wasted. Moreover, these active materials may be sensitive to UV light, which harms them, thus affecting the stability of the photovoltaic device. For these reasons, recovering photons whose energies do not match the bandgap of the active photovoltaic material is an intriguing strategy for increasing both the efficiency and the stability of solar cells, and this can be achieved by converting these energies to the visible range from the UV (down-conversion or down-shifting) or IR (up-conversion) range of this spectrum. In this sense, we are interested in investigating materials that enable the up- and/or down-conversion of energy and that could improve the overall efficiency of a solar cell, either by modifying existing layers within the solar cell or adding additional ones with tailored properties. This is the aim of this Special Issue of Crystals: all contributions that focus on the discovery, optimization, and exploitation of energy-converting crystalline materials in solar cells are welcome, regardless of the methodology employed (theoretical or experimental).
Dr. Eros Radicchi
Dr. Francesca Lo Presti
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. Crystals 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 2100 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
- solar cells
- up-conversion
- down-conversion
- down-shifting
- cystalline materials
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.
