ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors address the topic of selecting nanocrystal materials for photovoltaics and their synthesis. They focus on how colloidal nanocrystals and their emerging understanding of their properties are affecting efforts targeted at 2nd Generation approaches to develop ultra-low-cost nanocrystal solar cells. The authors discuss the fundamental solid-state physics and photophysics of three-dimensional nanocrystal (NC) arrays composed of semiconducting NCs that retain some of their quantum confinement effects while exhibiting some degree of collective, long-range behaviour characteristics of solids. Recent advances in colloid science are being utilized in the development and fabrication of new types of photovoltaic devices that are amenable to solution-phase continuous coating processes that may be generalized into roll-to-roll processing technology. An energy balance around the solar cell illustrates that an optimum band gap exists for a semiconductor absorber in a single-junction conventional photovoltaic device given the spectrum of photons received from the sun.
