Metal-Metal Oxide Based Nanocomposites for the Photovoltaic Applications

Abstract

Recently, an innovative research area in photovoltaics (PV) has emerged in energy conversion and storage, directed at solar cells (SCs) that are completely metal oxides-based semiconductors. The conversion efficiency using of SCs has increased at an unheard-of rate, reaching a record value of over twenty-two percent in recent years. The PV technique is appealing because of the stability, less toxicity, and availability of several metal oxides. Semiconductors are commonly employed as PV cell components such as conducting front electrodes and electron-transport layers, but few have been utilized as light harvesters. However, the inclusion of metal-metal oxide-based materials in this system has attracted significant interest as a capable class photovoltaic energy conversion technology. Particularly, wide-bandgap metal oxide semiconductors have gained a considerable amount of attention in SC research owing to their exceptional abilities to inject and remove photo-generated carriers and electron and hole transporters in effective SCs at the nanostructure level. In addition to helping with charge transport, metal oxides, and their doped variations can increase the stability of SCs in ambient settings when combined with metal oxide in the form of a nanostructured composite. For the development and commercialization of SCs in the future, methods for incorporating metal oxides with specialized compositions and structures. Based on the general PV principles, the performance of the metal oxide-based photovoltaic cells was discussed.