Silicon nanowire (SiNW)-based solar cells on glass substrates have been fabricated by wet electroless chemical etching (using silver nitrate and hydrofluoric acid) of 2.7 microm multicrystalline p(+)nn(+) doped silicon layers thereby creating the nanowire structure. Low reflectance (<10%, at 300-800 nm) and a strong broadband optical absorption (>90% at 500 nm) have been measured. The highest open-circuit voltage (V(oc)) and short-circuit current density (J(sc)) for AM1.5 illumination were 450 mV and 40 mA/cm(2), respectively at a maximum power conversion efficiency of 4.4%.

The fabrication of silicon nanowire-based solar cells on silicon wafers and on multicrystalline silicon thin films on glass is described. The nanowires show a strong broadband optical absorption, which makes them an interesting candidate to serve as an absorber in solar cells. The operation of a solar cell is demonstrated with n-doped nanowires grown on a p-doped silicon wafer. From a partially illuminated area of 0.6 cm(2) open-circuit voltages in the range of 230-280 mV and a short-circuit current density of 2 mA cm(-2) were obtained.

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In shape-memory alloys a first-order martensitic phase transition is responsible for pseudo-elastic and for ferro-elastic stress-strain relations. To describe this behaviour a modified Landau theory is proposed in which the free energy of the crystal depends on the temperature and on the full strain tensor. The energy is invariant with respect to the cubic point group Oh of the high-temperature phase. To predict the cubic-to-monoclinic phase transitionofb-phaseshape-memory alloysanexpansion uptosixthorder instrain isnecessary for which, for the class of alloys considered, odd terms may be neglected. For a CuAlNi alloy the expansion coefficients are determined by comparison with experimental results. In contrast to classical Landau theory of second-order phase transitions, not only a single second-order but also a fourth-order expansion coefficient depend on temperature.

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