Francesco Enrichi, PhD in materials science, is a physicist with about 20 years' experience in research and technology transfer. He has been a Vinnmer Marie Curie Fellow at Luleå University of Technology, Research Fellow at Ca' Foscari University of Venice and at Enrico Fermi Center in Rome, and Director of the Optical Laboratory in Veneto Nanotech, the Italian Cluster for Nanotechnologies. His research interests are mainly in the field of luminescent materials from nanophosphors to glass-ceramic coatings, with applications in biosensors, lighting, solar cells, anticounterfeiting, and cultural heritage. In these areas, he published more than 100 research papers and presented several invited oral contributions at international conferences. He acted as contract professor for university courses, secondary level masters, and EU-funded courses, and he supervised a significant number of students. He has the Italian qualification as full professor (ASN) in various fields of the physics and chemistry of materials. He is member of the Energy Group Committee of the Institute of Physics (IoP).
Dr. Giancarlo C. Righini is a Physicist who has worked almost 40 years at CNR, the National Research Council of Italy, in Florence and Rome. He was the research director at the Nello Carrara Institute of Applied Physics (IFAC CNR, Florence); and then director of the National Department on Materials and Devices (DMD CNR, Rome). After his retirement at CNR, in 2010, he was director of the Enrico Fermi Centre in Rome until 2016. He is now an associate to both the institutions. His research interests have concerned optical holography, fiber and integrated optics, glass materials, microresonators, solar cells, always mainly from an experimental point of view. He was Vice-President of IUPAP and of ICO; co-founder and president of the Italian Society of Optics and Photonics (SIOF); co-founder and secretary of EOS; member of the Board of Directors of SPIE. He is chair of the technical committee TC20 of the International Commission on Glass. He is Fellow of EOS, OSA, SIOF, SPIE, and Meritorious Member of SIF.

List of contributors

Preface

1. Solar cells' evolution and perspectives: a short review

Section I: Solar cells: principles and technologies

2. Silicon solar cells: materials, technologies, architectures

3. Ternary organic solar cells

4. Dye-sensitized solar cells: from synthetic dyes to natural pigments

5. Perovskite solar cells

6. All-oxide solar cells

Section II: Light manipulation and scattering

7. Simulations of conventional and augmented types of solar cells

8. Light trapping by plasmonic nanoparticles

9 Wave-optical front structures on silicon and perovskite thin-film solar cells

10 Organic and perovskite photovoltaics for indoor applications

Section III: Materials for spectral conversion

11. Glass ceramics for frequency conversion

12. Downconversion for 1 mm luminescence in lanthanide and Yb3+ co-doped phosphors

13. Down-shifting by quantum dots for silicon solar cell applications

Section IV: Environmental and sustainability

considerations

14. On sustainable PVesolar exploitation: an emergy analysis

15. Integrating life cycle assessment and commodity chain analysis to explore sustainable and just photovoltaics

Index