This book provides an extensive review of the theory of transport and recombination properties in semiconductors. The emphasis is placed on electrical and optical techniques. There is a presentation of the latest experimental and theoretical techniques used to analyze minority-carrier lifetime. The relevant hardware and instrumentation are described. The newest techniques of lifetime mapping are presented. The issues are discussed relating to effects that mask carrier lifetime in certain device structures. The discrepancy between photoconductive and photoluminescence measurement results are analyzed.

The book focuses on advanced characterization methods for thin-film solar cells that have proven their relevance both for academic and corporate photovoltaic research and development. After an introduction to thin-film photovoltaics, highly experienced experts report on device and materials characterization methods such as electroluminescence analysis, capacitance spectroscopy, and various microscopy methods. In the final part of the book simulation techniques are presented which are used for ab-initio calculations of relevant semiconductors and for device simulations in 1D, 2D and 3D. Building on a proven concept, this new edition also covers thermography, transient optoelectronic methods, and absorption and photocurrent spectroscopy.

Solar cells are semiconductor devices that convert light photons into electricity in photovoltaic energy conversion and can help to overcome the global energy crisis. Solar cells have many applications including remote area power systems, earth-orbiting satellites, wristwatches, water pumping, photodetectors and remote radiotelephones. Solar cell technology is economically feasible for commercial-scale power generation. While commercial solar cells exhibit good performance and stability, still researchers are looking at many ways to improve the performance and cost of solar cells via modulating the fundamental properties of semiconductors. Solar cell technology is the key to a clean energy future. Solar cells directly harvest energy from the sun’s light radiation into electricity are in an ever-growing demand for future global energy production. Solar cell-based energy harvesting has attracted worldwide attention for their notable features, such as cheap renewable technology, scalable, lightweight, flexibility, versatility, no greenhouse gas emission, environment, and economy friendly and operational costs are quite low compared to other forms of power generation. Thus, solar cell technology is at the forefront of renewable energy technologies which are used in telecommunications, power plants, small devices to satellites. Aiming at large-scale implementation can be manipulated by various types used in solar cell design and exploration of new materials towards improving performance and reducing cost. Therefore, in-depth knowledge about solar cell design is fundamental for those who wish to apply this knowledge and understanding in industries and academics. This book provides a comprehensive overview on solar cells and explores the history to evolution and present scenarios of solar cell design, classification, properties, various semiconductor materials, thin films, wafer-scale, transparent solar cells, and so on. It also includes solar cells’ characterization analytical tools, theoretical modeling, practices to enhance conversion efficiencies, applications and patents.

Amorphous solids (including glassy and non-crystalline solids) are ubiquitous since the vast majority of solids naturally occurring in our world are amorphous. Although the field is diverse and complex, this three-volume set covers the vast majority of the important concepts needed to understand these materials and their principal practical applications. One volume discusses the most important subset of amorphous insulators, namely oxide glasses; the other two volumes discuss the most important subsets of amorphous semiconductors, namely tetrahedrally coordinated amorphous semiconductors and amorphous and glassy chalcogenides. Together these three volumes provide a comprehensive set of theoretical concepts and practical information needed to become conversant in the field of amorphous materials. They are suitable for advanced graduate students, postdoctoral research associates, and researchers wishing to change fields or sub-fields.The topics covered in these three volumes include (1) concepts for understanding the structures of amorphous materials, (2) techniques to characterize the structural, electronic, and optical properties of amorphous materials, (3) the roles of defects in affecting the electronic and optical properties of amorphous materials, and (4) the concepts for understanding practical devices and other applications of amorphous materials. Applications discussed in these volumes include transistors, solar cells, displays, bolometers, fibers, non-volatile memories, vidicons, photoresists, and optical disks.

This four-volume handbook gives a state-of-the-art overview of porous materials, from synthesis and characterization and simulation all the way to manufacturing and industrial applications. The editors, coming from academia and industry, are known for their didactic skills as well as their technical expertise. Coordinating the efforts of 37 expert authors in 14 chapters, they construct the story of porous carbons, ceramics, zeolites and polymers from varied viewpoints: surface and colloidal science, materials science, chemical engineering, and energy engineering. Volumes 1 and 2 cover the fundamentals of preparation, characterisation, and simulation of porous materials. Working from the fundamentals all the way to the practicalities of industrial production processes, the subjects include hierarchical materials, in situ and operando characterisation using NMR, X-Ray scattering and tomography, state-of-the-art molecular simulations of adsorption and diffusion in crystalline nanoporous materials, as well as the emerging areas of bio-artificing and drug delivery. Volume 3 focuses on porous materials in industrial separation applications, including adsorption separation, membrane separation, and osmotic distillation. Finally, and highly relevant to tomorrow's energy challenges, Volume 4 explains the energy engineering aspects of applying porous materials in supercapacitors, fuel cells, batteries, electrolysers and sub-surface energy applications.The text contains many high-quality colourful illustrations and examples, as well as thousands of up-to-date references to peer-reviewed articles, reports and websites for further reading. This comprehensive and well-written handbook is a must-have reference for universities, research groups and companies working with porous materials.Related Link(s)

A unique and timely book providing an overview of both the methodologies and applications of computational materials design.

This book provides an extensive review of the theory of transport and recombination properties in semiconductors. The emphasis is placed on electrical and optical techniques. There is a presentation of the latest experimental and theoretical techniques used to analyze minority-carrier lifetime. The relevant hardware and instrumentation are described. The newest techniques of lifetime mapping are presented. The issues are discussed relating to effects that mask carrier lifetime in certain device structures. The discrepancy between photoconductive and photoluminescence measurement results are analyzed.

Thin-film solar cells are either emerging or about to emerge from the research laboratory to become commercially available devices finding practical various applications. Currently no textbook outlining the basic theoretical background, methods of fabrication and applications currently exist. Thus, this book aims to present for the first time an in-depth overview of this topic covering a broad range of thin-film solar cell technologies including both organic and inorganic materials, presented in a systematic fashion, by the scientific leaders in the respective domains. It covers a broad range of related topics, from physical principles to design, fabrication, characterization, and applications of novel photovoltaic devices.

This book reviews the current status of semiconductor materials for conversion of sunlight to electricity, and highlights advances in both basic science and manufacturing. Photovoltaic (PV) solar electric technology will be a significant contributor to world energy supplies when reliable, efficient PV power products are manufactured in large volumes at low cost. Expert chapters cover the full range of semiconductor materials for solar-to-electricity conversion, from crystalline silicon and amorphous silicon to cadmium telluride, copper indium gallium sulfide selenides, dye sensitized solar cells, organic solar cells, and environmentally friendly copper zinc tin sulfide selenides. The latest methods for synthesis and characterization of solar cell materials are described, together with techniques for measuring solar cell efficiency. Semiconductor Materials for Solar Photovoltaic Cells presents the current state of the art as well as key details about future strategies to increase the efficiency and reduce costs, with particular focus on how to reduce the gap between laboratory scale efficiency and commercial module efficiency. This book will aid materials scientists and engineers in identifying research priorities to fulfill energy needs, and will also enable researchers to understand novel semiconductor materials that are emerging in the solar market. This integrated approach also gives science and engineering students a sense of the excitement and relevance of materials science in the development of novel semiconductor materials. · Provides a comprehensive introduction to solar PV cell materials · Reviews current and future status of solar cells with respect to cost and efficiency · Covers the full range of solar cell materials, from silicon and thin films to dye sensitized and organic solar cells · Offers an in-depth account of the semiconductor material strategies and directions for further research · Features detailed tables on the world leaders in efficiency demonstrations · Edited by scientists with experience in both research and industry