Advanced Development of Sustainable PECVD Semitransparent Photovoltaics: A Review

Energy is the driving force behind the upcoming industrial revolution, characterized by connected devices and objects that will be perpetually supplied with energy. Moreover, the global massive energy consumption increase requires appropriate measures, such as the development of novel and improved renewable energy technologies for connecting remote areas to the grid. Considering the current prominent market share of unsustainable energy generation sources, inexhaustible and clean solar energy resources offer tremendous opportunities that, if optimally exploited, might considerably help to lessen the ever-growing pressure experienced on the grid nowadays. The R&D drive to develop and produce socio-economically viable solar cell technologies is currently realigning itself to manufacture advanced thin films deposition techniques for Photovoltaic solar cells. Typically, the quest for the wide space needed to deploy PV systems has driven scientists to design multifunctional nanostructured materials for semitransparent solar cells (STSCs) technologies that can fit in available household environmental and architectural spaces. Specifically, Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) technique demonstrated the ability to produce highly transparent coatings with the desired charge carrier mobility. The aim of the present article is to review the latest semi-transparent PV technologies that were impactful during the past decade with special emphasis on PECVD-related technologies. We finally draw some key recommendations for further technological improvements and sustainability.

Perspectives of New Alternative Materials to Silicon for the Production of Photovoltaic Solar Cells

Much has been studied about solar energy as a renewable energy, as it can be transformed in electricity by means of solar panels. Innovation is very important when it comes to photovoltaic technologies, because the advantages of these technologies are low installation and maintenance costs and no environmental impact during operation. The market of photovoltaic products is dominated by the silicon technology, but new second- and third-generation cell technologies have been developed. This research shows that the Perovskite solar and the Multijunction solar cells have the potential to achieve maximum power conversion efficiency and minimum production costs in the near future. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC), Organic photovoltaics (OPV), Quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSC), Single-junction solar cells, and the Heterojunction solar cells will achieve such potential in a more distant future, because limitations imposed by efficiency and costs must be overcome. Having these parameters in mind, the overall objective of this research is to analyze the materials of strategic potential to compete with silicon in the composition of the photovoltaic solar cells. A Systematic Literature Review helped retrieve 112 papers that report the most researched materials from 2014 to 2018. It is concluded that despite good results have been obtained from many of such studies, some alternative materials to silicon are still not technologically acceptable in terms of efficiency. It is expected that the use of a better distributed and cheaper solar energy technology will be possible in the near future.

Integration of buildings with third-generation photovoltaic solar cells: a review

Clean-energy technologies have been welcomed due to environmental concerns and high fossil-fuel costs. Today, photovoltaic (PV) cells are among the most well-known technologies that are used today to integrate with buildings. Particularly, these cells have attracted the attention of researchers and designers, combined with the windows and facades of buildings, as solar cells that are in a typical window or facade of a building can reduce the demand for urban electricity by generating clean electricity. Among the four generations that have been industrialized in the development of solar cells, the third generation, including dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and perovskite, is used more in combination with the facades and windows of buildings. Due to the characteristics of these cells, the study of transparency, colour effect and their impact on energy consumption is considerable. Up to now, case studies have highlighted the features mentioned in the building combination. Therefore, this paper aims to provide constructive information about the practical and functional features as well as the limitations of this technology, which can be used as a reference for researchers and designers.

Germanium-lead perovskite light-emitting diodes

Reducing environmental impact is a key challenge for perovskite optoelectronics, as most high-performance devices are based on potentially toxic lead-halide perovskites. For photovoltaic solar cells, tin-lead (Sn–Pb) perovskite materials provide a promising solution for reducing toxicity. However, Sn–Pb perovskites typically exhibit low luminescence efficiencies, and are not ideal for light-emitting applications. Here we demonstrate highly luminescent germanium-lead (Ge–Pb) perovskite films with photoluminescence quantum efficiencies (PLQEs) of up to ~71%, showing a considerable relative improvement of ~34% over similarly prepared Ge-free, Pb-based perovskite films. In our initial demonstration of Ge–Pb perovskite LEDs, we achieve external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of up to ~13.1% at high brightness (~1900 cd m−2), a step forward for reduced-toxicity perovskite LEDs. Our findings offer a new solution for developing eco-friendly light-emitting technologies based on perovskite semiconductors.