EPJ PV Highlight - Advanced TOPCon solar cells with patterned p-type poly-Si fingers on the front side and vanishing metal induced recombination losses
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- Published on 04 July 2025
Advanced TOPCon solar cells with patterned p-type poly-Si fingers on the front side and vanishing metal induced recombination losses
TOPCon solar cells have rapidly become the new industrial standard in solar cell production, highlighting the benefits of applying a contact passivation scheme based on a thin interfacial oxide and a highly doped polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) layer. Additionally, the introduction of the laser-enhanced contact passivation (LECO) process has brought significant gains in efficiency by further improving contact and surface passivation. Additionally, it allows reducing the poly-Si layer thickness and eliminates the need for aluminum containing metal pastes that have been associated with certain solar cell degradation mechanisms.
EPJ PV Highlight - Contactless defects detection using modulated photoluminescence technique: model for a single Shockley-Read-Hall trap in a semiconductor thin layer
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- Published on 16 April 2025
Contactless defects detection using modulated photoluminescence technique: model for a single Shockley-Read-Hall trap in a semiconductor thin layer
In order to develop efficient semiconductor devices and solar cells, there is a need to characterize electrically active defects in semiconductors. This is especially true for thin film solar cell absorbers which may be highly defective, either after deposition, or after ageing and degradation. Some efficient and well known electrical techniques such as Admittance Spectroscopy and Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy allow for determination of traps parameters. However, this requires to make junctions with the absorber (Schottky contact or PN junction) and depositing electrodes to perform measurements. We aim to develop a contactless method based on modulated photoluminescence (MPL), which may be used as a tool for material understanding, processes optimization, degradation tracking, or as a manufacturing control technique.
EPJ PV Highlight - Prioritizing Circular Economy strategies for sustainable PV deployment at the TW scale
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- Published on 07 June 2024
Prioritizing Circular Economy strategies for sustainable PV deployment at the TW scale
The material demand and eventual end of life management associated with multi-TW scale photovoltaic (PV) deployment has elicited significant consternation in research communities and the public discourse. Circular Economy and it's associated R-Actions (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) have been proposed to mitigate end of life management and material sourcing concerns. However, Circular Economy studies and metrics typically focus on a single product scale, heavily emphasize recycling, and only consider mass, excluding energy flows – a major oversight for an energy generating technology. Leveraging the open-source PV in Circular Economy (PV ICE) tool, the article quantifies the mass and energy implications of different R-Actions and proposed sustainable PV module designs in the context of achieving energy transition deployment goals (75 TW in 2050, 86 TW in 2100). Specifically, 13 technology-based module scenarios are established varying module efficiency, lifetime, and material circularity. These 13 module scenarios are evaluated across 6 metrics; total deployment including replacements, virgin material demand, lifecycle wastes, energy demands, net energy generated, and energy balance.
EPJ PV Highlight - Communication on the potential of applied PV in the European Union: Rooftops, reservoirs, roads (R3)
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- Published on 21 May 2024
Communication on the potential of applied PV in the European Union: Rooftops, reservoirs, roads (R3)
‘Communication on the potential of applied PV in the European Union: Rooftops, reservoirs, roads (R3)’ is a study conducted by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) that aims to assess the technical capacity potential of these three photovoltaic (PV) applications. The results were published recently in EPJ Photovoltaics.
Renewable energy technologies, like solar panels, are important for meeting the increasing demand for electricity and helping to combat climate change. The European Union (EU) has set ambitious targets for PV installation, but there are challenges to overcome, including competition for land and potential environmental drawbacks.
Indeed, the EU Solar Energy Strategy has outlined solid plans for PV installation, aiming for 385 GWDC (320 GWAC) by 2025 and 720 GWDC (600 GWAC) by 2030.
While striving to meet these targets, it is crucial to ensure that the adoption of renewable energy sources does not adversely affect the environment and biodiversity, in accordance with EU policies on nature and wildlife conservation.
EPJPV Highlight - Monolithic 3-terminal perovskite/silicon HBT-based tandem compatible with both-side contact silicon cells: a theoretical study
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- Published on 04 December 2023
An attractive pathway towards high efficiency tandem
The Editors-in-Chief of EPJ Photovoltaics, Pere Roca i Cabarrocas and Jean-Louis Lazzari, are pleased to highlight an important paper published recently in the Special Issue on ‘EU PVSEC 2023: State of the Art and Developments in Photovoltaics’.
The article “Monolithic 3-terminal perovskite/silicon HBT-based tandem compatible with both-side contact silicon cells: a theoretical study” by researchers from Politecnico di Torino dives into the concept of using the bipolar transistor architecture to realize perovskite-on-silicon tandem solar cells with three terminals.
EPJPV Highlight - How cool is floating PV
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- Published on 04 August 2023
The Editors-in-Chief of EPJ Photovoltaics, Pere Roca i Cabarrocas and Jean-Louis Lazzari, are pleased to highlight an important paper published recently in the Special Issue on ‘WCPEC-8: State of the Art and Developments in Photovoltaics’.
The article “How cool is floating PV? A state-of-the-art review of floating PV's potential gain and computational fluid dynamics modeling to find its root cause” is the result of the joint efforts of Gofran Chowdhury (imec, EnergyVille and University of Leuven), Mohamed Haggag (imec and University of Leuven), and Jef Poortmans (imec, EnergyVille, University of Hasselt and University of Leuven).
EPJPV Highlight - Research on the benefits of multi-junction solar cells in the Special Issue “WCPEC-8”
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- Published on 12 December 2022
The Editors-in-Chief of EPJ Photovoltaics, Pere Roca i Cabarrocas and Jean-Louis Lazzari, are pleased to highlight an important paper published recently in the Special Issue on ‘WCPEC-8: State of the Art and Developments in Photovoltaics’.
The article “Overview and loss analysis of III–V single-junction and multi-junction solar cells” is the result of the joint efforts of Masafumi Yamaguchi (Toyota Technological Institute), Frank Dimroth (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE), Nicholas J. Ekins-Daukes (University of New South Wales), Nobuaki Kojima and Yoshio Ohshita (both from Toyota Technological Institute).
EPJ Photovoltaics indexed in CAS
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- Published on 23 October 2012
EPJ Photovoltaics is now indexed in the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) database.
Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) monitors, indexes, and abstracts the world's chemistry-related literature and patents. These databases offer many scientific disciplines, including biomedical sciences, chemistry, engineering, materials science, and more.
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