Alberto Vomiero
Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
Title: Tuning nanomaterials’ properties to boost photoconversion efficiency in excitonic solar cells
Biography
Biography: Alberto Vomiero
Abstract
In several types of excitonic solar cells, nanomaterials can play a critical role in boosting photoconversion efficiency by ameliorating the processes of charge photogeneration, exciton dissociation and charge transport. Several strategies can be pursued, including broadening of light absorbance to reduce solar light losses, fastening exciton dissociation and charge injection from the photoactive medium to the charge transporting materials, reducing charge recombination during charge transport and collection at the electrodes. In this lecture, a few examples of application of nanomaterials will be thoroughly discussed in 2 specific categories of excitonic solar cells, namely dye- and quantum dot-sensitized solar cells. Emphasis will be given to the investigation of both the photoactive medium (including composite and core-shell quantum dots) and the charge transporting scaffold (including metal oxide hierarchical structures, nanowires, nanorods and carbon-based hybrids) towards a materials-by-design approach.