Material challenges for solar cells in the twenty-first century: directions in emerging technologies

Samy Almosni; Amaury Delamarre; Zacharie Jehl; Daniel Suchet; Ludmila Cojocaru; Maxime Giteau; Benoit Behaghel; Anatole Julian; Camille Ibrahim; Léa Tatry; Haibin Wang; Takaya Kubo; Satoshi Uchida; Hiroshi Segawa; Naoya Miyashita; Ryo Tamaki; Yasushi Shoji; Katsuhisa Yoshida; Nazmul Ahsan; Kentaro Watanabe; Tomoyuki Inoue; Masakazu Sugiyama; Yoshiaki Nakano; Tomofumi Hamamura; Thierry Toupance; Céline Olivier; Sylvain Chambon; Laurence Vignau; Camille Geffroy; Eric Cloutet; Georges Hadziioannou; Nicolas Cavassilas; Pierre Rale; Andrea Cattoni; Stéphane Collin; François Gibelli; Myriam Paire; Laurent Lombez; Damien Aureau; Muriel Bouttemy; Arnaud Etcheberry; Yoshitaka Okada; Jean-François Guillemoles

doi:10.1080/14686996.2018.1433439

Material challenges for solar cells in the twenty-first century: directions in emerging technologies

Sci Technol Adv Mater. 2018 Apr 10;19(1):336-369. doi: 10.1080/14686996.2018.1433439. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Samy Almosni^{1

2}, Amaury Delamarre^{1

2}, Zacharie Jehl^{1

2

3}, Daniel Suchet^{1

2

3}, Ludmila Cojocaru¹, Maxime Giteau^{1

2

3}, Benoit Behaghel^{1

4

5}, Anatole Julian¹, Camille Ibrahim¹, Léa Tatry¹, Haibin Wang^{1

2}, Takaya Kubo^{1

2}, Satoshi Uchida^{1

6}, Hiroshi Segawa^{1

7}, Naoya Miyashita^{1

2

3}, Ryo Tamaki^{1

2

3}, Yasushi Shoji^{1

2

3}, Katsuhisa Yoshida^{1

2

3}, Nazmul Ahsan^{1

2

3}, Kentaro Watanabe^{1

2}, Tomoyuki Inoue^{1

2}, Masakazu Sugiyama^{1

2}, Yoshiaki Nakano^{1

2}, Tomofumi Hamamura^{1

7

8}, Thierry Toupance^{1

8}, Céline Olivier^{1

8}, Sylvain Chambon^{1

9}, Laurence Vignau^{1

9}, Camille Geffroy^{1

10}, Eric Cloutet^{1

10}, Georges Hadziioannou^{1

10}, Nicolas Cavassilas¹¹, Pierre Rale⁵, Andrea Cattoni^{1

5}, Stéphane Collin^{1

5}, François Gibelli⁴, Myriam Paire⁴, Laurent Lombez^{1

4}, Damien Aureau^{1

12}, Muriel Bouttemy^{1

12}, Arnaud Etcheberry^{1

12}, Yoshitaka Okada^{1

2

3}, Jean-François Guillemoles^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ NextPV, LIA RCAST-CNRS, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
² Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Okadalab, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ IPVF, UMR CNRS 9006, Palaiseau, France.
⁵ Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (C2N), CNRS, University Paris-Sud/Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, France.
⁶ Komaba Organization for Educational Excellence, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁷ Department of General Systems Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ University of Bordeaux, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires (ISM), CNRS (UMR 5255), Talence Cédex, France.
⁹ University of Bordeaux, IMS, CNRS UMR 5218, Talence, France.
¹⁰ Université de Bordeaux, Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères Organiques (LCPO), UMR 5629, ENSCBP, IPB, Pessac Cedex, France.
¹¹ Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, Université de Toulon, IM2NP UMR 7334, Marseille, France.
¹² Institut Lavoisier de Versailles (ILV), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin (UVSQ), Université Paris-Saclay, Versailles, France.

Abstract

Photovoltaic generation has stepped up within the last decade from outsider status to one of the important contributors of the ongoing energy transition, with about 1.7% of world electricity provided by solar cells. Progress in materials and production processes has played an important part in this development. Yet, there are many challenges before photovoltaics could provide clean, abundant, and cheap energy. Here, we review this research direction, with a focus on the results obtained within a Japan-French cooperation program, NextPV, working on promising solar cell technologies. The cooperation was focused on efficient photovoltaic devices, such as multijunction, ultrathin, intermediate band, and hot-carrier solar cells, and on printable solar cell materials such as colloidal quantum dots.

Keywords: 206 Energy conversion / transport / storage / recovery; 209 Solar cell / Photovoltaics; 50 Energy Materials; 502 Electron spectroscopy; 505 Optical / Molecular spectroscopy; Photovoltaics; devices; efficiency; energy conversion; luminescence; nanotechnologies; semiconductors.

Publication types

Review