Arising applications of ferroelectric materials in photovoltaic devices" The ferroelectric-photovoltaic (FE-PV) device, in which a homogeneous ferroelectric material is used as a light absorbing layer, has been investigated during the past several decades with numerous ferroelectric oxides. The FE-PV effect is distinctly different from the typical photovoltaic (PV) effect in semiconductor p–n j...

In recent years alternative renewable energies including that obtained by solar cells have attracted much attention due to exhaustion of other conventional energy resources especially fossil-based fuels. Photovoltaic energy is one of the cleanest, most applicable and promising alternative energy using limitless sun light as raw material. Even though, inorganic solar cells dominate in the world ...

Organolead trihalide perovskite (OTP) materials are emerging as naturally abundant materials for low-cost, solution-processed and highly efficient solar cells. Here, we show that, in OTP-based photovoltaic devices with vertical and lateral cell configurations, the photocurrent direction can be switched repeatedly by applying a small electric field of <1 V μm(-1). The switchable photocurrent, ge...

In this feature article we focus on the key problem of charge separation in nano-scale photovoltaic materials; in particular recent theoretical/computational work based on first principles electronic structure approaches is presented and discussed. We review applications of state-of-the-art electronic structure calculations to nano-scale materials that enable charge separation between an excite...

Photovoltaic functions in organic materials are intimately connected to interfacial morphologies of molecular packing in films on the nanometer scale and molecular levels. This review will focus on current studies on correlations of nanoscale morphologies in organic photovoltaic (OPV) materials with fundamental processes relevant to photovoltaic functions, such as light harvesting, exciton spli...

Graphene is the thinnest two-dimensional (2D) carbon material and has many advantages including high carrier mobilities and conductivity, high optical transparency, excellent mechanical flexibility and chemical stability, which make graphene an ideal material for various optoelectronic devices. The major applications of graphene in photovoltaic devices are for transparent electrodes and charge ...

Organic photovoltaic cell (OPV) has emerged as a new competitor to inorganic material-based solar cells, due to its potential application in large area, printable, and flexible solar panels. In particular, OPV cells with bulk heterojunction architecture (BHJ), in which the photoactive layer consists of a bicontinuous blend of an electron donor and an electron acceptor, has allowed power convers...

Atomically thin 2D layered semiconductor materials such as Transition Metal Di-Chalcogenides (TMDCs) have great potential for use as flexible, ultra-thin photovoltaic materials in solar cells due to their favorable photon absorption and electronic transport properties. The electronic properties, such as band structure and bandgap, and optical absorption properties of Tungsten Disulfide (WS2) we...