Preface

Chapter 8 **Plasmonic Resonances and Their Application to Thin-Film**

Chapter 9 **Hybrid Silicon Nanowires for Solar Cell Applications 163**

Chapter 10 **Microstructure Engineering of Metal-Halide Perovskite Films**

Chapter 11 **Pathways Towards High-Stable, Low-Cost and Efficient**

Mohamed Mohamed Rashad and Meicheng Li

Chapter 12 **High-Quality Perovskite Film Preparations for Efficient**

Shangzheng Pang and Dazheng Chen

Adel Najar and Amine El Moutaouakil

**for Efficient Solar Cells 181**

**Perovskite Solar Cells 201**

**Perovskite Solar Cells 217**

Nilesh Kumar Pathak, Pandian Senthil Kumar and Rampal Sharma

Weidong Zhu, Jingjing Chang, Chunfu Zhang, Jincheng Zhang and

Ahmed Mourtada Elseman, Sajid, Dong Wei, Ahmed Esmail Shalan,

**Solar Cell 153**

**VI** Contents

Yue Hao

The demand for clean environment in our current society has increased with large-scale eco‐ nomic developments and population growth. The standard energy sources based on fossil fuels are limited and pollute the environment, leading to climatic change on a global scale. Taking care of the environment today is a sustainable act for the generations of tomorrow. The process of developing new techniques and improving older types of technologies is still ongoing. The most important thing is to understand that remediation actions need to be jus‐ tified and optimize the adopted actions and must do more good than harm. The end results should always be a balance between risks, costs, benefits, and remediation viability. Solar energy and other renewable sources enable us to meet the demand for energy while offering a cleaner and greener footprint.

Based on the developments in the field of solar technology, we decided to compose a book based on materials and concepts in solar cells. In parallel with the growth rate of renewable energy, essential attention is being paid to the development of advanced techniques and ma‐ terials for the effective utilization of energy resources. An attempt has also been made to provide the fundamental understanding of the functioning of solar cells. The main objective of writing this book is to create a comprehensive and easy-to-understand source of informa‐ tion on the advances in this rapidly growing research area. This book includes enough infor‐ mation on the basics to be used as a textbook undergraduate coursework in engineering and the sciences. The inclusion of advanced concepts and research trends will also make it useful as a reference for scientists and professionals. We hope that the book can serve its function to draw attention to this emerging solar cell field with a great potential.

*Emerging Solar Energy Materials* is divided into 2 parts comprising 12 chapters written by leading experts in the solar cell field and is organized with the intention to provide a big picture of the latest progress in the solar cell field and at the same time give an in-depth discussion on fundamentals of solar cells for interested audiences. In this book, each part opens with a new author's essay highlighting their work for contribution toward solar ener‐ gy. To help the reader evaluate progress and recognize how difficult some problems are, the chapters present charts, graphs, and figures to help illustrate the scope of environmental is‐ sues; the text's main focus is on identifying major issues and giving appropriate examples to illustrate the complex interactions that are characteristic of renewable energy.

Preparing such a book is not possible without the support from others. We want to express our special thanks to the authors' hard work and contributions, copyright owners, and re‐ viewer's comments and suggestions. Without all these support, it would not have been pos‐

sible for us to publish this book. We wish to express our gratitude to the staff of IntechOpen for their patience during the development of this project and for encouraging us during the various stages of preparation.

> **Sadia Ameen** School of Chemical Engineering Chonbuk National University Jeonju, Republic of Korea

**Section 1**

**Functional Solar Energy Materials**

**M. Shaheer Akhtar** New & Renewable Energy Material Development Center (NewREC), Chonbuk National University Jeonbuk, Republic of Korea

> **Hyung-Shik Shin** School of Chemical Engineering Chonbuk National University Jeonju, Republic of Korea

**Functional Solar Energy Materials**

sible for us to publish this book. We wish to express our gratitude to the staff of IntechOpen for their patience during the development of this project and for encouraging us during the

New & Renewable Energy Material Development Center (NewREC),

**Sadia Ameen**

**M. Shaheer Akhtar**

**Hyung-Shik Shin**

School of Chemical Engineering Chonbuk National University Jeonju, Republic of Korea

Chonbuk National University Jeonbuk, Republic of Korea

School of Chemical Engineering Chonbuk National University Jeonju, Republic of Korea

various stages of preparation.

VIII Preface

**Chapter 1**

**Provisional chapter**

**-Based Thermochromic** 

**Solar Modulation Utilizing VO2-Based Thermochromic**

Energy consumption has become an urgent issue not only for the global environment, but also for people's lives. Among total energy consumption, buildings take nearly 40%. For buildings, energy exchange through windows accounts for over 50% by means of conduction, convection, and radiation. To reduce energy consumption, new structures should be developed for glass surfaces to enhance their thermal insulation properties.

a notable optical change from transparent to reflecting in the infrared upon a semiconductor-to-metal phase-transition. In this chapter, we provide a comprehensive summary

smart window has been carried on for several decades, the real commercial use of it has not yet been achieved. The hindrance factors against commercial use are convention-

**Keywords:** solar modulation, vanadium dioxide, optical design, multilayer structures,

Nowadays, for environmental deterioration and energy shortage in modern human society, people are paying more attention to finding energy-efficient materials to reduce the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission. According to the survey, buildings are responsible for about 40% of the energy consumption and almost 30% of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions owing to the use of lighting, air-conditioning, and heating [1–5]. Energy

ally known as the unsatisfactory intrinsic properties of VO2

) is the most well-known thermochromic material, which exhibits


material and have recently

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.75584

**Coatings for Energy-Saving Applications**

**Coatings for Energy-Saving Applications**

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

**Solar Modulation Utilizing VO<sup>2</sup>**

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.75584

Vanadium dioxide (VO2

of advances on the VO2

emerged as new challenges.

energy-saving

**1. Introduction**

Xun Cao and Ping Jin

Xun Cao and Ping Jin

**Abstract**

#### **Solar Modulation Utilizing VO2-Based Thermochromic Coatings for Energy-Saving Applications Solar Modulation Utilizing VO<sup>2</sup> -Based Thermochromic Coatings for Energy-Saving Applications**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.75584

Xun Cao and Ping Jin Xun Cao and Ping Jin

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.75584

#### **Abstract**

Energy consumption has become an urgent issue not only for the global environment, but also for people's lives. Among total energy consumption, buildings take nearly 40%. For buildings, energy exchange through windows accounts for over 50% by means of conduction, convection, and radiation. To reduce energy consumption, new structures should be developed for glass surfaces to enhance their thermal insulation properties. Vanadium dioxide (VO2 ) is the most well-known thermochromic material, which exhibits a notable optical change from transparent to reflecting in the infrared upon a semiconductor-to-metal phase-transition. In this chapter, we provide a comprehensive summary of advances on the VO2 -based thermochromic coatings. Although the research on VO2 smart window has been carried on for several decades, the real commercial use of it has not yet been achieved. The hindrance factors against commercial use are conventionally known as the unsatisfactory intrinsic properties of VO2 material and have recently emerged as new challenges.

**Keywords:** solar modulation, vanadium dioxide, optical design, multilayer structures, energy-saving
