Metal oxides are generally very stable in aqueous solutions and cheap, but their photochemical activity is usually limited by poor charge carrier separation. Here we show that this problem can be solved by introducing a gradient dopant concentration in the metal oxide film, thereby creating a distributed n þ -n homojunction. This concept is demonstrated with a lowcost, spray-deposited and non-porous tungsten-doped bismuth vanadate photoanode in which carrier-separation efficiencies of up to 80% are achieved. By combining this state-ofthe-art photoanode with an earth-abundant cobalt phosphate water-oxidation catalyst and a double-or single-junction amorphous Si solar cell in a tandem configuration, stable shortcircuit water-splitting photocurrents of B4 and 3 mA cm À 2 , respectively, are achieved under 1 sun illumination. The 4 mA cm À 2 photocurrent corresponds to a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 4.9%, which is the highest efficiency yet reported for a stand-alone water-splitting device based on a metal oxide photoanode.

Plasmonic metal nanoparticles are of great interest for light trapping in thin-film silicon solar cells. In this Letter, we demonstrate experimentally that a back reflector with plasmonic Ag nanoparticles can provide light-trapping performance comparable to state-of-the-art random textures in n-i-p amorphous silicon solar cells. This conclusion is based on the comparison to high performance n-i-p solar cell and state-of-the-art efficiency p-i-n solar cells deposited on the Asahi VU-type glass. With the plasmonic back reflector a gain of 2 mA/cm(2) in short-circuit current density was obtained without any deterioration of open circuit voltage or fill factor compared to the solar cell on a flat back reflector. The excellent light trapping is a result of strong light scattering and low parasitic absorption of self-assembled Ag nanoparticles embedded in the back reflector. The plasmonic back reflector provides a high degree of light trapping with a haze in reflection greater than 80% throughout the wavelength range 520-1100 nm. The high performance of plasmonic back reflector is attributed to improvements in the self-assembly technique, which result in a lower surface coverage and fewer small and irregular nanoparticles.

Thanks to fast learning and sustained growth, solar photovoltaics (PV) is today a highly cost-competitive technology, ready to contribute substantially to CO 2 emissions mitigation. However, many scenarios assessing global decarbonization pathways, either based on integrated assessment models or partial-equilibrium models, fail to identify the key role that this technology could play, including far lower future PV capacity than that projected by the PV community. In this perspective, we review the factors that lie behind the historical cost reductions of solar PV and identify innovations in the pipeline that could contribute to maintaining a high learning rate. We also aim at opening a constructive discussion among PV experts, modelers, and policymakers regarding how to improve the representation of this technology in the models and how to ensure that manufacturing and installation of solar PV-can ramp up on time, which will be crucial to remain in a decarbonization path compatible with the Paris Agreement.

A hybrid photovoltaic/photoelectrochemical (PV/PEC) water‐splitting device with a benchmark solar‐to‐hydrogen conversion efficiency of 5.2 % under simulated air mass (AM) 1.5 illumination is reported. This cell consists of a gradient‐doped tungsten–bismuth vanadate (W:BiVO4) photoanode and a thin‐film silicon solar cell. The improvement with respect to an earlier cell that also used gradient‐doped W:BiVO4 has been achieved by simultaneously introducing a textured substrate to enhance light trapping in the BiVO4 photoanode and further optimization of the W gradient doping profile in the photoanode. Various PV cells have been studied in combination with this BiVO4 photoanode, such as an amorphous silicon (a‐Si:H) single junction, an a‐Si:H/a‐Si:H double junction, and an a‐Si:H/nanocrystalline silicon (nc‐Si:H) micromorph junction. The highest conversion efficiency, which is also the record efficiency for metal oxide based water‐splitting devices, is reached for a tandem system consisting of the optimized W:BiVO4 photoanode and the micromorph (a‐Si:H/nc‐Si:H) cell. This record efficiency is attributed to the increased performance of the BiVO4 photoanode, which is the limiting factor in this hybrid PEC/PV device, as well as better spectral matching between BiVO4 and the nc‐Si:H cell.

General rightsIt is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. We demonstrate a method for synthesizing free standing silicon nanocrystals in an argon/silane gas mixture by using a remote expanding thermal plasma. Transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy measurements reveal that the distribution has a bimodal shape consisting of two distinct groups of small and large silicon nanocrystals with sizes in the range 2-10 nm and 50-120 nm, respectively. We also observe that both size distributions are lognormal which is linked with the growth time and transport of nanocrystals in the plasma. Average size control is achieved by tuning the silane flow injected into the vessel. Analyses on morphological features show that nanocrystals are monocrystalline and spherically shaped. These results imply that formation of silicon nanocrystals is based on nucleation, i.e., these large nanocrystals are not the result of coalescence of small nanocrystals. Photoluminescence measurements show that silicon nanocrystals exhibit a broad emission in the visible region peaked at 725 nm. Nanocrystals are produced with ultrahigh throughput of about 100 mg/min and have state of the art properties, such as controlled size distribution, easy handling, and room temperature visible photoluminescence.

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This work proposes gallium oxide grown by plasma‐enhanced atomic layer deposition, as a surface passivation material at the CdS buffer interface of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells. In preliminary experiments, a metal‐insulator‐semiconductor (MIS) structure is used to compare aluminium oxide, gallium oxide, and hafnium oxide as passivation layers at the CIGS‐CdS interface. The findings suggest that gallium oxide on CIGS may show a density of positive charges and qualitatively, the least interface trap density. Subsequent solar cell results with an estimated 0.5 nm passivation layer show an substantial absolute improvement of 56 mV in open‐circuit voltage (VOC), 1 mA cm−2 in short‐circuit current density (JSC), and 2.6% in overall efficiency as compared to a reference (with the reference showing 8.5% under AM 1.5G).

We show experimentally that the photocurrent of thin-film hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (lc-Si:H) solar cells can be enhanced by 4.5 mA/cm 2 with a plasmonic back reflector (BR). The light trapping performance is improved using plasmonic BR with broader angular scattering and lower parasitic absorption loss through tuning the size of silver nanoparticles. The lc-Si:H solar cells deposited on the improved plasmonic BR demonstrate a high photocurrent of 26.3 mA/cm 2 which is comparable to the state-of-the-art textured Ag/ZnO BR. The commonly observed deterioration of fill factor is avoided by using lc-SiO x :H as the n-layer for solar cells deposited on plasmonic BR. V C 2013 AIP Publishing LLC [http://dx