A 3D nanostructure for improved solar-cell efficiency
SPIE - Cost-effective photovoltaic (PV) technologies are the key for large-scale deployment of solar cells capable of producing clean energy. Although conventional planar crystalline PV cells can provide good efficiencies, they are not viable for large-scale deployment because of relatively high costs. On the other hand, inorganic and organic thin-film semiconductor-based PV cells have low material and fabrication cost, but their large-scale performance is poor.
Nanostructured materials grown with low-cost, bottom-up approaches usually have crystalline nature and, therefore, are promising candidates to achieve cost-effective PV cells. In addition, ordered nanostructures have demonstrated intriguing optical and electrical properties favoring photon broadband absorption and photocarrier collection. This suggests a potential route towards next-generation, high-efficiency PV devices.
