Concentrating photovoltaics offer a way to lower the cost of solar power. However, the existing paradigm based on precise orientation of large-area concentrator modules towards the Sun limits their deployment to large, open land areas. Here, we explore an alternate approach using high-efficiency microcell photovoltaics embedded between a pair of plastic lenslet arrays to demonstrate quasi-stati...

Photovoltaics (PV) are a promising source of clean renewable energy, but current technologies face a cost-to-efficiency trade-off that has slowed widespread implementation. We have developed a PV architecture-screening-engineered field-effect photovoltaics (SFPV)-that in principle enables fabrication of low-cost, high efficiency PV from virtually any semiconductor, including the promising but h...

The dye-sensitized nanocrystalline injection solar cell employs transition metal complexes for spectral sensitization of mesoporous TiO(2) films together with suitable redox electrolytes or amorphous organic hole conductors. Light harvesting occurs efficiently over the whole visible and near-IR range due to the very large internal surface area of the films. Judicious molecular engineering allow...

Biofuels are liquid sunlight. In effect, we use plants to convert raw solar energy into a liquid (ethanol or biodiesel) that can be used as an energy source for our transportation systems. The question this chapter asks is whether this conversion process is the best way to make use of solar energy. Photovoltaics clearly dominate plants in terms of technical conversion efficiency, with conversio...

In the next several decades it is expected that the United States and the rest of the nations of the world will greatly expand their consumption of electricity. But many questions will accompany this expansion: Can we build enough generating capacity? Do we have enough energy resources? Can we accommodate centralized and dispersed needs, large and small applications, and the diverse requirement...

ABSTRACT Metal halide perovskites have revolutionized the field of solution-processable photovoltaics. Within just a few years, the power conversion efficiencies of perovskite-based solar cells have been improved significantly to over 20%, which makes them now already comparably efficient to silicon-based photovoltaics. This breakthrough in solution-based photovoltaics, however, has the drawbac...

FAQ List for Solar Cells ............................................................................................................................1 1. What is photovoltaics? ...................................................................................................................1 2. How is photovoltaics different than other solar energy conversion technologies? .......................