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Challenges and prospects of nanopillar-based solar cells

  • Review Article
  • Open access
  • Published: 11 November 2009
  • Volume 2, pages 829–843, (2009)
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Nano Research Aims and scope
Challenges and prospects of nanopillar-based solar cells
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  • Zhiyong Fan1,2,3,
  • Daniel J. Ruebusch1,2,3,
  • Asghar A. Rathore1,2,3,
  • Rehan Kapadia1,2,3,
  • Onur Ergen1,2,3,
  • Paul W. Leu1,2,3 &
  • …
  • Ali Javey1,2,3 

  • 3926 Accesses

  • 206 Citations

  • 6 Altmetric

  • Explore all metrics

Abstract

Materials and device architecture innovations are essential for further enhancing the performance of solar cells while potentially enabling their large-scale integration as a viable source of alternative energy. In this regard, tremendous research has been devoted in recent years with continuous progress in the field. In this article, we review the recent advancements in nanopillar-based photovoltaics while discussing the future challenges and prospects. Nanopillar arrays provide unique advantages over thin films in the areas of optical properties and carrier collection, arising from their three-dimensional geometry. The choice of the material system, however, is essential in order to gain the advantage of the large surface/interface area associated with nanopillars with the constraints different from those of the thin film devices.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Zhiyong Fan, Daniel J. Ruebusch, Asghar A. Rathore, Rehan Kapadia, Onur Ergen, Paul W. Leu & Ali Javey

  2. Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Zhiyong Fan, Daniel J. Ruebusch, Asghar A. Rathore, Rehan Kapadia, Onur Ergen, Paul W. Leu & Ali Javey

  3. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Zhiyong Fan, Daniel J. Ruebusch, Asghar A. Rathore, Rehan Kapadia, Onur Ergen, Paul W. Leu & Ali Javey

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  2. Daniel J. Ruebusch
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  3. Asghar A. Rathore
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Correspondence to Ali Javey.

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Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0 ), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

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Fan, Z., Ruebusch, D.J., Rathore, A.A. et al. Challenges and prospects of nanopillar-based solar cells. Nano Res. 2, 829–843 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-009-9091-y

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  • Received: 13 September 2009

  • Revised: 26 September 2009

  • Accepted: 26 September 2009

  • Published: 11 November 2009

  • Issue Date: November 2009

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-009-9091-y

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Keywords

  • Nanopillar-based photovoltaics
  • solar cells
  • nanowires (NWs)

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