PORTO @ Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca

Toward Intrinsic Intermediate-Band Materials for Solar Cells

Intermediate-band (IB) solar cells (SC) have been proposed to exceed the theoretical efficiency limit of commercial devices based on the Shockley-Queisser (SQ) model, also referred to as single-junction (SJ) SCs. SJSCs employ a single-gap semiconductor to convert sunlight photons into free electrons and holes, whose ordered motion toward opposite terminals establishes a net electrical current. By scaling inversely with the number of photo-generated carriers and directly with the energy ava...

Suzhou: che progetto oltre il mito del progresso?

Crescita economica e crescita urbana in Cina sono stati fenomeni paralleli dall’inizio delle riforme economiche avviate nel 1978. Suzhou, città antichissima e ben radicata nell’immaginario nazionale cinese, è un ottimo esempio di questo processo dirompente e violento che è stato la corsa allo sviluppo cinese. Localizzata nello Yangtze River Delta, a pochi chilometri da Shanghai, è il principale centro urbano di un delicato paesaggio dell’acqua costruito in un lungo periodo e composto da eleme...

Vasari sulle scale

Computational Discovery and Optimization of High-Performance Materials for Intermediate-Band Solar Cells

Intermediate band (IB) solar cells (SC) have been proposed to exceed the theoretical efficiency limit of ~30% affecting commercial devices based on the Shockley-Queisser (SQ) model. The idea is to improve the trade-off between photo-generated current and voltage, by introducing “intermediate” energy levels between the valence (VB) and conduction (CB) band of the photo-converting material. These levels act as stepping stones for the sequential absorption of two sub-gap photons, de facto realiz...