Abstract
Improving the conversion efficiency and reducing cost are the major tasks to make more energy competitive-based photovoltaics and able to replace the traditional fossil energies. In organic/inorganic-based solar cell development, nanotechnology seems to be the most promising branch. Nanostructure materials with large band gap synthesized from III–V and II–VI elements are gaining more attention because of their potential use in emerging energy applications. Nanostructures with different morphologies including nanowires, nanosprings, nanobelts and nanocombs can be prepared. Variations in atomic arrangements to minimize the effect of electrostatic energies produces from different ionic charges on the polar surfaces are the major reason of diversified range of nanostructures. In this book chapter, we will focus on the contribution of different nanomaterials in the advancement of solar cell technology.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Panwar N, Kaushik S, Kothari S (2011) Role of renewable energy sources in environmental protection: a review. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 15(3):1513–1524
Hsieh C-T, Yang B-H, Lin J-Y (2011) One-and two-dimensional carbon nanomaterials as counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. Carbon 49(9):3092–3097
Brennan LJ et al (2011) Carbon nanomaterials for dye-sensitized solar cell applications: a bright future. Adv Energy Mater 1(4):472–485
Sun H et al (2015) Recent progress in solar cells based on one-dimensional nanomaterials. Energy Environ Sci 8(4):1139–1159
Peet J, Heeger AJ, Bazan GC (2009) “Plastic” solar cells: self-assembly of bulk heterojunction nanomaterials by spontaneous phase separation. Acc Chem Res 42(11):1700–1708
Luo B, Liu S, Zhi L (2012) Chemical approaches toward graphene-based nanomaterials and their applications in energy-related areas. Small 8(5):630–646
Williams R (1983) Metal electrode for amorphous silicon solar cells. Google Patents
Anderson W, Chai Y (1976) Becquerel effect solar cell. Energy Convers 15(3–4):85–94
Li Y, Zhang JZ (2010) Hydrogen generation from photoelectrochemical water splitting based on nanomaterials. Laser Photonics Rev 4(4):517–528
Chiappafreddo P, Gagliardi A (2010) The photovoltaic market facing the challenge of organic solar cells: economic and technical perspectives. Trans Stud Rev 17(2):346–355
Akl AA, Afify H (2008) Growth, microstructure, optical and electrical properties of sprayed CuInSe2 polycrystalline films. Mater Res Bull 43(6):1539–1548
Tala-Ighil R (2016) Nanomaterials in solar cells. In: Aliofkhazraei M, Makhlouf ASH (eds) Handbook of nanoelectrochemistry: electrochemical synthesis methods, properties and characterization techniques. Springer, Cham, pp 1251–1270
Cai W, Gong X, Cao Y (2010) Polymer solar cells: recent development and possible routes for improvement in the performance. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 94(2):114–127
Jayawardena KI et al (2013) ‘Inorganics-in-organics’: recent developments and outlook for 4G polymer solar cells. Nanoscale 5(18):8411–8427
Palmer K, Burtraw D (2005) Cost-effectiveness of renewable electricity policies. Energy Econ 27(6):873–894
Yuhas BD, Yang P (2009) Nanowire-based all oxide solar cells. J Am Chem Soc 131(10):3756–3761
Fan Z, Razavi H, Do JW, Moriwaki A, Ergen O, Chueh YL, Leu PW et al (2009) Three-dimensional nanopillar-array photovoltaics on low-cost and flexible substrates. Nat Mater 8(8):648
Neale S et al (2009) Three-dimensional nanopillar-array photovoltaics on low-cost and flexible substrates
Cho K et al (2011) Molecular monolayers for conformal, nanoscale doping of InP nanopillar photovoltaics. Appl Phys Lett 98(20):203101
Zhu J et al (2008) Optical absorption enhancement in amorphous silicon nanowire and nanocone arrays. Nano Lett 9(1):279–282
Peng ZA, Peng X (2001) Formation of high-quality CdTe, CdSe, and CdS nanocrystals using CdO as precursor. J Am Chem Soc 123(1):183–184
Hu L, Chen G (2007) Analysis of optical absorption in silicon nanowire arrays for photovoltaic applications. Nano Lett 7(11):3249–3252
Han SE, Chen G (2010) Optical absorption enhancement in silicon nanohole arrays for solar photovoltaics. Nano Lett 10(3):1012–1015
Han SE, Chen G (2010) Toward the Lambertian limit of light trapping in thin nanostructured silicon solar cells. Nano Lett 10(11):4692–4696
Yu M et al (2012) Recent advances in solar cells based on one-dimensional nanostructure arrays. Nanoscale 4(9):2783–2796
Peter Y, Cardona M (2010) Fundamentals of semiconductors: physics and materials properties. Springer Science & Business Media
Yu PY, Cardona M (2010) Electrical transport. Fundamentals of semiconductors, pp 203–241
Mitzi DB et al (2011) The path towards a high-performance solution-processed kesterite solar cell. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 95(6):1421–1436
Peng X, Wickham J, Alivisatos A (1998) Kinetics of II-VI and III-V colloidal semiconductor nanocrystal growth: “focusing” of size distributions. J Am Chem Soc 120(21):5343–5344
Rogach AL et al (2002) Organization of matter on different size scales: monodisperse nanocrystals and their superstructures. Adv Func Mater 12(10):653–664
Rabouw FT, de Mello Donega C (2017) Excited-state dynamics in colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals. In: Credi A Editor (ed) Photoactive semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots: fundamentals and applications. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 1–30
Shieh J-M et al (2007) Enhanced photoresponse of a metal-oxide-semiconductor photodetector with silicon nanocrystals embedded in the oxide layer. Appl Phys Lett 90(5):051105
Cheung C et al (2008) Using thin film transistors to quantify carrier transport properties of amorphous organic semiconductors. Appl Phys Lett 93(8):316
Bauer T (2011) Thermophotovoltaics: basic principles and critical aspects of system design. Springer Science & Business Media
Modest M (1993) Radiative heat transfer. McGraw-Hill Inc., Hightstown
Compaan AD (2006) Photovoltaics: clean power for the 21st century. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 90(15):2170–2180
Zhang X et al (2009) Electrochemical deposition of quaternary Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films as potential solar cell material. Appl Phys A 94(2):381–386
Jimbo T, Soga T, Hayashi Y (2005) Development of new materials for solar cells in Nagoya Institute of Technology. Sci Technol Adv Mater 6(1):27–33
Nazeeruddin MK et al (2001) Engineering of efficient panchromatic sensitizers for nanocrystalline TiO2-based solar cells. J Am Chem Soc 123(8):1613–1624
Nehaoua N, Chergui Y, Mekki DE (2011) A new model for extracting the physical parameters from IV curves of organic and inorganic solar cells. In: Solar cells-silicon wafer-based technologies. InTech
Yu R et al (2012) Nanomaterials and nanostructures for efficient light absorption and photovoltaics. Nano Energy 1(1):57–72
Dai G et al (2012) A novel photoanode architecture of dye-sensitized solar cells based on TiO2 hollow sphere/nanorod array double-layer film. J Colloid Interface Sci 365(1):46–52
Mauter MS, Elimelech M (2008) Environmental applications of carbon-based nanomaterials. Environ Sci Technol 42(16):5843–5859
Lim J-W et al (2012) Simple brush-painting of flexible and transparent Ag nanowire network electrodes as an alternative ITO anode for cost-efficient flexible organic solar cells. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 107:348–354
Garnett E, Yang P (2010) Light trapping in silicon nanowire solar cells. Nano Lett 10(3):1082–1087
Lee J-Y et al (2008) Solution-processed metal nanowire mesh transparent electrodes. Nano Lett 8(2):689–692
Carlson A et al (2012) Transfer printing techniques for materials assembly and micro/nanodevice fabrication. Adv Mater 24(39):5284–5318
Chang P-C et al (2004) ZnO nanowires synthesized by vapor trapping CVD method. Chem Mater 16(24):5133–5137
Calarco R et al (2005) Size-dependent photoconductivity in MBE-grown GaN− nanowires. Nano Lett 5(5):981–984
Liang Y et al (2005) Band-gap engineering of semiconductor nanowires through composition modulation. J Phys Chem B 109(15):7120–7123
Zhu D et al (2012) Fabrication of heterogeneous double-ring-like structure arrays by combination of colloidal lithography and controllable dewetting. Langmuir 28(5):2873–2880
Gao X et al (2004) Carbon nanotubes filled with metallic nanowires. Carbon 42(1):47–52
Rai SC et al (2015) Piezo-phototronic effect enhanced UV/visible photodetector based on fully wide band gap Type-II ZnO/ZnS core/shell nanowire array. ACS Nano 9(6):6419–6427
Chen C-Y et al (2017) Enhancing formation rate of highly-oriented silicon nanowire arrays with the assistance of back substrates. Sci Rep 7(1):3164
Miao X et al (2012) High efficiency graphene solar cells by chemical doping. Nano Lett 12(6):2745–2750
Baker DR, Kamat PV (2009) Photosensitization of TiO2 nanostructures with CdS quantum dots: particulate versus tubular support architectures. Adv Func Mater 19(5):805–811
Paulose M et al (2006) Application of highly-ordered TiO2 nanotube-arrays in heterojunction dye-sensitized solar cells. J Phys D Appl Phys 39(12):2498
Kapadia R et al (2012) Nanopillar photovoltaics: materials, processes, and devices. Nano Energy 1(1):132–144
Thiyagu S, Pei Z, Jhong M-S (2012) Amorphous silicon nanocone array solar cell. Nanoscale Res Lett 7(1):172
Chang Y-C et al (2009) Controlled growth of ZnO nanopagoda arrays with varied lamination and apex angles. Cryst Growth Des 9(7):3161–3167
Zhang L et al (2013) Preparation of a hybrid polymer solar cell based on MEH-PPV/ZnO nanorods. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 24(2):452–456
Thorat J et al (2011) Nanostructured ZnO hexagons and optical properties. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 22(4):394–399
Kim S et al (2003) Type-II quantum dots: CdTe/CdSe (core/shell) and CdSe/ZnTe (core/shell) heterostructures. J Am Chem Soc 125(38):11466–11467
Raffaelle R et al (2005) Quantum dot-single wall carbon nanotube complexes for polymeric solar cells. In: Conference record of the thirty-first IEEE Photovoltaic specialists conference, 2005. IEEE
Milliron DJ et al (2004) Colloidal nanocrystal heterostructures with linear and branched topology. Nature 430(6996):190
Landi B et al (2005) CdSe quantum dot-single wall carbon nanotube complexes for polymeric solar cells. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 87(1–4):733–746
Che Q et al (2013) Nanoparticles-aided silver front contact paste for crystalline silicon solar cells. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 24(2):524–528
Bowers MJ, McBride JR, Rosenthal SJ (2005) White-light emission from magic-sized cadmium selenide nanocrystals. J Am Chem Soc 127(44):15378–15379
Nirmal M et al (1996) Fluorescence intermittency in single cadmium selenide nanocrystals. Nature 383(6603):802
Tala-Ighil R (2013) Simulated multi-crystalline silicon solar cells with aluminum back surface field. Mater Sci Indian J 9(7):277–281
Duan Y et al (2012) Sn-doped TiO2 photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cells. J Phys Chem C 116(16):8888–8893
Zhang Y et al (2012) Development of inorganic solar cells by nano-technology. Nano-Micro Lett 4(2):124–134
Li Y et al (2013) Application of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): polystyrenesulfonate in polymer heterojunction solar cells. J Mate Sci 48(9):3528–3534
Zhang C et al (2017) Efficient perovskite solar cells by combination use of Au nanoparticles and insulating metal oxide. Nanoscale 9(8):2852–2864
Zhang M et al (2015) Stable and low‐cost mesoscopic CH3NH3PbI2Br perovskite solar cells by using a thin poly (3‐hexylthiophene) layer as a hole transporter. Chem Eur J 21(1):434–439
Jung HS, Park NG (2015) Perovskite solar cells: from materials to devices. Small 11(1):10–25
Kumar MH et al (2013) Flexible, low-temperature, solution processed ZnO-based perovskite solid state solar cells. Chem Commun 49(94):11089–11091
Conings B et al (2014) Perovskite-based hybrid solar cells exceeding 10% efficiency with high reproducibility using a thin film sandwich approach. Adv Mater 26(13):2041–2046
Edri E et al (2013) High open-circuit voltage solar cells based on organic–inorganic lead bromide perovskite. J Phys Chem Lett 4(6):897–902
Ogomi Y et al (2014) CH3NH3SnxPb(1−x)I3 perovskite solar cells covering up to 1060 nm. J Phys Chem Lett 5(6):1004–1011
Good P et al (2016) Spectral reflectance, transmittance, and angular scattering of materials for solar concentrators. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 144:509–522
Jacobsson TJ et al (2013) A monolithic device for solar water splitting based on series interconnected thin film absorbers reaching over 10% solar-to-hydrogen efficiency. Energy Environ Sci 6(12):3676–3683
Hamadani BH, Dougherty B (2016) Solar cell characterization. In: Semiconductor materials for solar photovoltaic cells. Springer, pp 229–245
Sinton RA, Cuevas A (2000) A quasi-steady-state open-circuit voltage method for solar cell characterization. In: Proceedings of the 16th European photovoltaic solar energy conference, vol 1152
Repins I et al (2008) 19 9%-efficient ZnO/CdS/CuInGaSe2 solar cell with 81 2% fill factor. Prog Photovoltaics Res Appl 16(3):235–239
Sinton RA, Cuevas A, Stuckings M (1996) Quasi-steady-state photoconductance, a new method for solar cell material and device characterization. In: Conference record of the twenty fifth IEEE photovoltaic specialists conference. IEEE
Ramanathan K et al (2003) Properties of 19.2% efficiency ZnO/CdS/CuInGaSe2 thin‐film solar cells. Prog Photovoltaics Res Appl 11(4):225–230
Fontané X et al (2011) In-depth resolved Raman scattering analysis for the identification of secondary phases: characterization of Cu2ZnSnS4 layers for solar cell applications. Appl Phys Lett 98(18):181905
Stangl R, Leendertz C, Haschke J (2010) Numerical simulation of solar cells and solar cell characterization methods: the open-source on demand program AFORS-HET. In: Solar energy. InTech
Bourgoin J, Zazoui M (2002) Irradiation-induced degradation in solar cell: characterization of recombination centres. Semicond Sci Technol 17(5):453
Noguchi H et al (1994) Characterization of vacuum-evaporated tin sulfide film for solar cell materials. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 35:325–331
Kim H-S et al (2012) Lead iodide perovskite sensitized all-solid-state submicron thin film mesoscopic solar cell with efficiency exceeding 9%. Scientific Rep 2:591
Fischer S et al (2010) Enhancement of silicon solar cell efficiency by upconversion: optical and electrical characterization. J Appl Phys 108(4):044912
Green MA et al (2011) Solar cell efficiency tables (version 37). Prog Photovoltaics Res Appl 19(1):84–92
Schmid D, Ruckh M, Schock HW (1996) A comprehensive characterization of the interfaces in Mo/CIS/CdS/ZnO solar cell structures. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 41:281–294
Osaka I et al (2012) Synthesis, characterization, and transistor and solar cell applications of a naphthobisthiadiazole-based semiconducting polymer. J Am Chem Soc 134(7):3498–3507
Todorov TK et al (2013) Solution‐processed Cu (In, Ga)(S, Se)2 absorber yielding a 15.2% efficient solar cell. Prog Photovoltaics Res Appl 21(1):82–87
Carstensen J et al (2003) CELLO: an advanced LBIC measurement technique for solar cell local characterization. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 76(4):599–611
Jani O et al (2007) Design and characterization of GaN∕ In GaN solar cells. Appl Phys Lett 91(13):132117
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Akhtar, K. et al. (2020). Photovoltaic-Based Nanomaterials: Synthesis and Characterization. In: Sharma, S., Ali, K. (eds) Solar Cells. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36354-3_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36354-3_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-36353-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-36354-3
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)