Extremely thin absorber (ETA) solar cells utilize a very thin light-absorbing layer at the nanostractured interface between n- and p-type semiconductors to enable efficient separation of photoexcited charge carriers. The high-area interface allows smaller absorber thicknesses to harvest the same amount of light as thicker planar cells. Because the absorber is thin, efficient charge separation can be achieved with material of lower electronic quality, which enables low-cost processing and new materials not possible with planar cells. Understanding the effects of materials and interfaces on charge separation and transport is critical to improving the efficiencies of ETA solar cells from current state-of-the-art around 2-5% to predicted efficiencies near 15%.
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