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Energies
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Next Generation of Photovoltaic (PV) Technology
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Next Generation of Photovoltaic (PV) Technology

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2015) | Viewed by 35824

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. I. M. Dharmadasa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Materials and Engineering Research Institute, Sheffield Hallam University, City Campus, Howard Street, Sheffield S1 1WB, UK
Interests: electrodeposition of electronic materials; semiconductors; solar energy materials; thin film solar cells; photovoltaic solar energy conversion; graded bandgap solar cells; use of clean energy for social development and reduction of poverty; solar villages
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Photovoltaic technology has progressed steadily over the past four decades and currently is beginning to make a huge impact on power generation. At the same time, worldwide research and development is continuing to produce low-cost and high-efficiency solar cells to further reduce the $W-1 figure. Numerous ideas have been put forward to move towards the "next generation photovoltaic technology". This Special Issue intends to bring these ideas together so that readers can compare the latest achievements using different approaches. The topics proposed for this Special Issue are indicated below. Manuscripts are invited from your area of interest concerning, but not limited to:

1. Graded bandgap multi-layer solar cells utilizing nano- and micro-rod type materials
2. Hot carrier solar cells
3. Plasma enhanced solar cells
4. Dye sensitized solar cells
5. Organic solar cells
6. Perovskite solar cells
7. Intermediate bandgap solar cells
8. III-V based multi-layer solar cells
9. Up-conversion and down conversion/Nano materials based solar cells.

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. Energies 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

  • next generation
  • graded bandgaps
  • hot carriers
  • plasma enhanced
  • dye sensitized
  • organic PV
  • perovskite
  • intermediate bandgap PV
  • III-V concentrator
  • up-conversion
  • down-conversion
  • solar cells

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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1625 KiB  
Article
Next Generation Solar Cells Based on Graded Bandgap Device Structures Utilising Rod-Type Nano-Materials
by Imyhamy M. Dharmadasa, Ayotunde A. Ojo, Hussein I. Salim and Ruvini Dharmadasa
Energies 2015, 8(6), 5440-5458; https://doi.org/10.3390/en8065440 - 5 Jun 2015
Cited by 36 | Viewed by 7658
Abstract
Current solar cells under research and development utilise mainly one absorber layer limiting the photon harvesting capabilities. In order to develop next generation solar cells, research should move towards effective photon harvesting methods utilising low-cost solar energy materials. This will lead to reduce [...] Read more.
Current solar cells under research and development utilise mainly one absorber layer limiting the photon harvesting capabilities. In order to develop next generation solar cells, research should move towards effective photon harvesting methods utilising low-cost solar energy materials. This will lead to reduce the $W−1 figure for direct solar energy conversion to electrical energy. In this work, a graded bandgap solar cell has been designed to absorb all photons from the UV, visible and IR regions. In addition, impurity PV effect and impact ionisation have been incorporated to enhance charge carrier creation within the same device. This new design has been experimentally tested using the most researched MOCVD grown GaAs/AlGaAs system, in order to confirm its validity. Devices with high Voc ~ 1175 mV and the highest possible FF ~ (0.85–0.87) have been produced, increasing the conversion efficiency to ~20% within only two growth runs. These devices were also experimentally tested for the existence of impurity PV effect and impact ionisation. The devices are PV active in complete darkness producing over 800 mV, Voc indicating the harvesting of IR radiation from the surroundings through impurity PV effect. The quantum efficiency measurements show over 140% signal confirming the contribution to PV action from impact ionisation. Since the concept is successfully proven, the low-cost and scalable electrodeposited semiconducting layers are used to produce graded bandgap solar cell structures. The utilisation of nano- and micro-rod type materials in graded bandgap devices are also presented and discussed in this paper. Preliminary work on glass/FTO/n-ZnS/n-CdS/n-CdTe/Au graded bandgap devices show 10%–12% efficient devices indicating extremely high Jsc values ~48 mA·cm−2, showing the high potential of these devices in achieving higher efficiencies. The detailed results on these low-cost and novel graded bandgap devices are presented in a separate publication. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Next Generation of Photovoltaic (PV) Technology)
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1368 KiB  
Article
Graded-Bandgap Solar Cells Using All-Electrodeposited ZnS, CdS and CdTe Thin-Films
by Obi K. Echendu and Imyhamy M. Dharmadasa
Energies 2015, 8(5), 4416-4435; https://doi.org/10.3390/en8054416 - 15 May 2015
Cited by 65 | Viewed by 10313
Abstract
A 3-layer graded-bandgap solar cell with glass/FTO/ZnS/CdS/CdTe/Au structure has been fabricated using all-electrodeposited ZnS, CdS and CdTe thin layers. The three semiconductor layers were electrodeposited using a two-electrode system for process simplification. The incorporation of a wide bandgap amorphous ZnS as a buffer/window [...] Read more.
A 3-layer graded-bandgap solar cell with glass/FTO/ZnS/CdS/CdTe/Au structure has been fabricated using all-electrodeposited ZnS, CdS and CdTe thin layers. The three semiconductor layers were electrodeposited using a two-electrode system for process simplification. The incorporation of a wide bandgap amorphous ZnS as a buffer/window layer to form glass/FTO/ZnS/CdS/CdTe/Au solar cell resulted in the formation of this 3-layer graded-bandgap device structure. This has yielded corresponding improvement in all the solar cell parameters resulting in a conversion efficiency >10% under AM1.5 illumination conditions at room temperature, compared to the 8.0% efficiency of a 2-layer glass/FTO/CdS/CdTe/Au reference solar cell structure. These results demonstrate the advantages of the multi-layer graded-bandgap device architecture over the conventional 2-layer structure. In addition, they demonstrate the effective application of the two-electrode system as a simplification to the conventional three-electrode system in the electrodeposition of semiconductors with the elimination of the reference electrode as a possible impurity source. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Next Generation of Photovoltaic (PV) Technology)
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1811 KiB  
Article
Effect of Extended Extinction from Gold Nanopillar Arrays on the Absorbance Spectrum of a Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cell
by Shu-Ju Tsai, Mihaela Ballarotto, Hung-Chih Kan and Raymond J. Phaneuf
Energies 2015, 8(3), 1547-1560; https://doi.org/10.3390/en8031547 - 18 Feb 2015
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 6344
Abstract
We report on the effects of enhanced absorption/scattering from arrays of Au nanopillars of varied size and spacing on the spectral response of a P3HT:PCBM bulk heterojunction solar cell. Nanopillar array-patterned devices do show increased optical extinction within a narrow range of wavelengths [...] Read more.
We report on the effects of enhanced absorption/scattering from arrays of Au nanopillars of varied size and spacing on the spectral response of a P3HT:PCBM bulk heterojunction solar cell. Nanopillar array-patterned devices do show increased optical extinction within a narrow range of wavelengths compared to control samples without such arrays. The measured external quantum efficiency and calculated absorbance, however, both show a decrease near the corresponding wavelengths. Numerical simulations indicate that for relatively narrow nanopillars, the increased optical extinction is dominated by absorption within the nanopillars, rather than scattering, and is likely dissipated by Joule heating. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Next Generation of Photovoltaic (PV) Technology)
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Graphical abstract

871 KiB  
Article
Simulation of Standby Efficiency Improvement for a Line Level Control Resonant Converter Based on Solar Power Systems
by Ming-Tse Kuo and Ming-Chang Tsou
Energies 2015, 8(1), 338-355; https://doi.org/10.3390/en8010338 - 5 Jan 2015
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 10451
Abstract
This paper proposes a new scheme to improve the standby efficiency of the high-power half-bridge line level control (LLC) resonant converter. This new circuit is applicable to improving the efficiency of the renewable energy generation system in distributed power systems. The main purpose [...] Read more.
This paper proposes a new scheme to improve the standby efficiency of the high-power half-bridge line level control (LLC) resonant converter. This new circuit is applicable to improving the efficiency of the renewable energy generation system in distributed power systems. The main purpose is to achieve high-efficiency solar and wind power and stable output under different load conditions. In comparison with the traditional one, this novel method can improve standby efficiency at standby. The system characteristics of this proposed method have been analyzed through detailed simulations, which prove its feasibility. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Next Generation of Photovoltaic (PV) Technology)
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