Crystallography using electrons: a focus on thin film materials

Focus issue: thin-film photovoltaic materials and devices.

The recent tragic event of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico reminds us of the challenges of developing sources of energy that are not only abundant and economical but, more importantly, are also as harmless as possible to the environment. Among renewable energy sources, solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies show great potential, as they convert directly sun light into electricity with...

A Focus on Crystallography

The assignment of atom types is one of the first stepsafter solving a single crystal X-ray structure analysis. It isoften difficult or even impossible to assign correct atomtypes if there are atoms with similar atomic number pres-ent in the structure solution. The Cambridge StructuralDatabase (CSD) allows to perform statistical analysesof bond lengths and delivers an ele...

Piezoelectric thin-film superlattices without using piezoelectric materials

In this paper we show that experimentally realizable apparently piezoelectric thin-film superlattices can be created from nonpiezoelectric materials provided an odd-order e.g., trilayer stacking sequence is used. The size-dependent mechanism of flexoelectricity, which couples gradients of strain to polarization, allows such a possibility. We present closed-form analytical expressions for the re...

Thin Film Solar Cells Using Earth-Abundant Materials

Thin-film ferroelectric materials and their applications

| Ferroelectric materials, because of their robust spontaneous electrical polarization, are widely used in various applications. Recent advances in modelling, synthesis and characterization techniques are spurring unprecedented advances in the study of these materials. In this Review, we focus on thin-film ferroelectric materials and, in particular, on the possibility of controlling their prope...