Ultrathin Nano-Absorbers in Photovoltaics: Prospects and Innovative Applications
Source abstract
Abstract
Approaching the first terawatt of installations, photovoltaics (PV) are about to become the major source of electric power until the mid-century. The technology has proven to be long lasting and very versatile and today PV modules can be found in numerous applications. This is a great success of the entire community, but taking future growth for granted might be dangerous. Scientists have recently started to call for accelerated innovation and cost reduction. Here, we show how ultrathin absorber layers, only a few nanometers in thickness, together with strong light confinement can be used to address new applications for photovoltaics. We review the basics of this new type of solar cell and point out the requirements to the absorber layer material by optical simulation. Furthermore, we discuss innovative applications, which make use of the unique optical properties of the nano absorber solar cell architecture, such as spectrally selective PV and switchable photovoltaic windows.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: solar cell performance optimization · Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability · Photovoltaic System Optimization Techniques
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Urban and Residential Technologies, DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany
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