Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

P-N junction

P-N junction

A p-n junction is formed when p-type and n-type semiconductor materials are joined together. At the interface of the p-n junction, holes from the p-side and electrons from the n-side begin to diffuse into the opposite sides due to the concentration gradient. This diffusion of carriers leads to a region around the junction where there are no free charge carriers, known as the depletion region. The charge density within the depletion region for the n-side and p-side can be described by the...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

De Rerum Natura: How Do Halide Perovskites Self-Heal From Damage?

Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)·2026

Same author

Room-temperature polariton condensate in a quasi-2D hybrid perovskite.

Nature communications·2026

Same author

Hard-Wired Solid-State Bioelectronic Micropore Devices: Permanent Metal-Protein-Metal Junction Proof-of-Concept.

Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)·2025

Same author

Without Contact Resistance, Proteins in Thin-Film Solid-State Junctions Can Be Efficient Electronic Conducting Materials.

Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)·2025

Same author

Protein Electronic Energy Transport Levels Derived from High-Sensitivity Near-UV and Constant Final State Yield Photoemission Spectroscopy.

Small methods·2024

Same author

Guanidinium Substitution Improves Self-Healing and Photodamage Resilience of MAPbI<sub>3</sub>.

The journal of physical chemistry. C, Nanomaterials and interfaces·2024

Same journal

Innate Immunity of Framework Nucleic Acids.

Accounts of chemical research·2026

Same journal

High-Performance CH-Series Non-Fullerene Acceptors for Organic Photovoltaics.

Accounts of chemical research·2026

Same journal

Design Principles for Negative Thermal Expansion in Two-Dimensional Materials.

Accounts of chemical research·2026

Same journal

Main Group Redox Catalysis: New Frontiers with Germanium and Tin.

Accounts of chemical research·2026

Same journal

Taming Irreversibility in sp<sup>2</sup>-Carbon-Conjugated COFs from Polycrystalline Powders to Single Crystals and Thin Films.

Accounts of chemical research·2026

Same journal

Electroactive Imidazolium Ionic Liquids in Organic Synthesis.

Accounts of chemical research·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 24, 2026

Harvesting Solar Energy by Means of Charge-Separating Nanocrystals and Their Solids

Harvesting Solar Energy by Means of Charge-Separating Nanocrystals and Their Solids

Published on: August 23, 2012

All-solid-state, semiconductor-sensitized nanoporous solar cells.

Gary Hodes¹, David Cahen

¹Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. gary.hodes@weizmann.ac.il

Accounts of Chemical Research

|March 6, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Extremely thin absorber (ETA) solar cells offer a promising alternative to silicon and CdTe cells. These cells utilize inexpensive, abundant materials and solution-based fabrication for cost-effective, efficient solar energy conversion.

More Related Videos

Polycrystalline Silicon Thin-film Solar cells with Plasmonic-enhanced Light-trapping

Polycrystalline Silicon Thin-film Solar cells with Plasmonic-enhanced Light-trapping

Published on: July 2, 2012

Fabrication of Fully Solution Processed Inorganic Nanocrystal Photovoltaic Devices

Fabrication of Fully Solution Processed Inorganic Nanocrystal Photovoltaic Devices

Published on: July 8, 2016

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 24, 2026

Harvesting Solar Energy by Means of Charge-Separating Nanocrystals and Their Solids

Harvesting Solar Energy by Means of Charge-Separating Nanocrystals and Their Solids

Published on: August 23, 2012

Polycrystalline Silicon Thin-film Solar cells with Plasmonic-enhanced Light-trapping

Polycrystalline Silicon Thin-film Solar cells with Plasmonic-enhanced Light-trapping

Published on: July 2, 2012

Fabrication of Fully Solution Processed Inorganic Nanocrystal Photovoltaic Devices

Fabrication of Fully Solution Processed Inorganic Nanocrystal Photovoltaic Devices

Published on: July 8, 2016

Area of Science:

Materials Science
Renewable Energy
Photovoltaics

Background:

Current solar cell technologies like crystalline silicon and CdTe face limitations in manufacturing energy input, material availability, and scalability.
The need for energy-efficient, cost-effective solar cells using abundant materials drives research into new photovoltaic technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

To introduce and discuss the extremely thin absorber (ETA) solar cell as a next-generation photovoltaic device.
To explore the advantages, disadvantages, and operational mechanisms of ETA cells, comparing them to dye-sensitized cells (DSCs).
To detail solution-based methods for fabricating ETA cells and optimizing their performance.

Main Methods:

Fabrication of ETA solar cells using solution-based methods for layer formation and treatment.
Comparative analysis of ETA cells with dye-sensitized cells (DSCs).
Investigation into the mechanisms of photovoltage generation in ETA cells.

Main Results:

ETA cells utilize absorber layers tens of nanometers thick, potentially allowing the use of lower-quality semiconductors.
Solution processing offers a pathway to minimize manufacturing costs for ETA cells.
Ongoing research focuses on optimizing layer treatments to enhance ETA cell performance and efficiency.

Conclusions:

ETA solar cells represent a promising direction for next-generation photovoltaics due to their potential for high efficiency, low cost, and use of abundant materials.
Further research is needed to fully understand and optimize the controversial operational mechanisms of ETA cells.
Solution-based fabrication techniques are key to realizing the cost-effective, large-scale production of ETA solar cells.