Materials for type III solar cells have branched into a series of generic groups. These include organic ‘small molecule’ and polymer conjugated structures, fullerenes, quantum dots, copper indium gallium selenide nanocrystal films, dyes/Ti O2 for Grätzel cells, hybrid organic/inorganic composites and perovskites. Whilst the power conversion efficiencies of organic solar cells are modest compared to other type III photovoltaic materials, plastic semiconductors provide a cheap route to manufacture through solution processing and offer flexible devices. However, other types of materials are proving to be compatible with this type of processing whilst providing higher device efficiencies. As a result, the field is experiencing healthy competition between technologies that is pushing progress at a fast rate. In particular, perovskite solar cells have emerged very recently as a highly disruptive technology with power conversion efficiencies now over 20%. Perovskite cells, however, still have to address stability and environmental issues. With such a diverse range of materials, it is timely to capture the different technologies into a single volume of work. This book will give a collective insight into the different roles that nanostructured materials play in type III solar cells. This will be an essential text for those working with any of the devices highlighted above, providing a fundamental understanding and appreciation of the potential and challenges associated with each of these technologies.
Table of Content
Reliably measuring the performance of emerging photovoltaic solar cells; Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells – Working Principle and Power Conversion Efficiency; High Performance Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) Donor Polymers; P-type molecular materials for organic solar cells; Fullerenes and new acceptors for organic solar cells; Structure/property processing relationships for organic solar cells; Charge generation and recombination processes in organic solar cells; Dye sensitised solar cells; Hybrid Solar Cells; Deposition techniques for Perovskite solar cells; CIS and CIGS nanomaterials for solar cells; Copper based Multinary Materials for Solar Cells; Quantum dots for Type III Photovoltiacs; Charge Dynamics in Colloidal Quantum Dots