Solar Cells and Light Management : Materials, Strategies and Sustainability

Solar Cells and Light Management: Materials, Strategies and Sustainability provides an extensive review on the latest advances in PV materials, along with light management strategies for better exploiting the solar spectrum. Following a brief review of the current status of solar cells, the book discusses different concepts, principles and technologies for solar devices, starting with standard silicon cells and then covering organic-hybrid, DSSC, perovskite, quantum dots and nanostructured oxide solar cells. Other sections focus on light manipulation and spectral modification, materials for spectral conversion, and environmental and sustainably considerations.

An emergy analysis, which is an extension of the Life Cycle Assessment methodology, is applied to the study of solar PV systems, thus allowing for effective integrated indicators.

• Provides a comprehensive picture of light management strategies
• Features the most recent advances in the field, including novel materials and advanced solar cell technologies
• Presents a resource that is applicable to both new or experienced researchers in the field
• Contains a section on environmental and sustainability issues

Francesco Enrichi, PhD in materials science, is a physicist with about 20 years’ experience in research and technology transfer. He has been a Vinnmer Marie Curie Fellow at Luleå University of Technology, Research Fellow at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and at Enrico Fermi Center in Rome, and Director of the Optical Laboratory in Veneto Nanotech, the Italian Cluster for Nanotechnologies. His research interests are mainly in the field of luminescent materials from nanophosphors to glass-ceramic coatings, with applications in biosensors, lighting, solar cells, anticounterfeiting, and cultural heritage. In these areas, he published more than 100 research papers and presented several invited oral contributions at international conferences. He acted as contract professor for university courses, secondary level masters, and EU-funded courses, and he supervised a significant number of students. He has the Italian qualification as full professor (ASN) in various fields of the physics and chemistry of materials. He is member of the Energy Group Committee of the Institute of Physics (IoP).

Dr. Giancarlo C. Righini is a Physicist who has worked almost 40 years at CNR, the National Research Council of Italy, in Florence and Rome. He was the research director at the Nello Carrara Institute of Applied Physics (IFAC CNR, Florence); and then director of the National Department on Materials and Devices (DMD CNR, Rome). After his retirement at CNR, in 2010, he was director of the Enrico Fermi Centre in Rome until 2016. He is now an associate to both the institutions. His research interests have concerned optical holography, fiber and integrated optics, glass materials, microresonators, solar cells, always mainly from an experimental point of view. He was Vice-President of IUPAP and of ICO; co-founder and president of the Italian Society of Optics and Photonics (SIOF); co-founder and secretary of EOS; member of the Board of Directors of SPIE. He is chair of the technical committee TC20 of the International Commission on Glass. He is Fellow of EOS, OSA, SIOF, SPIE, and Meritorious Member of SIF.