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This special issue gathers a selection of papers in Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology for Photovoltaics (PV) that were presented at the 2nd EU PV Clusters Workshop and General Assembly “Progress in Photovoltaics and Nanotechnology: from FP7 to Horizon 2020”, held at the University of Barcelona (Spain) in November 2013 (cf. the Preface on pp. 10–12). A relevant contribution from the European Project SCALENANO is the development of new Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cell architectures incorporating ZnO nanorod arrays that are reviewed by Ohm et al. (pp. 76–87), following the processes schematically shown in the cover image. This paper describes new technological insights that are given for the synthesis of devices using electrodeposited ZnO nanorods as either front or back nanostructured contacts, exploring new promising concepts to maximize photonconversion by optical and electrical enhancement. These device architectures are compatible with the use of vacuum‐free processes with a high potential for reduction of production costs, as spray pyrolysis based processes that are described in the paper by Espíndola‐Rodríguez et al. (pp. 126–134). In the field of Si based technologies, the application of doped colloidal silicon nanocrystals sandwiched between hydrogenated amorphous silicon layers as emitters in silicon heterojunction solar cells may turn out to be an interesting system to exploit quantum confinement effects in solar cells or for the processing of low‐cost and potentially printable emitter layers, as described in the Feature Article by Leendertz et al. (pp. 156–161) from the European project nanoPV. The cross‐sectional TEM micrograph on the cover shows a crystalline silicon wafer covered with an amorphous layer and n‐type Si‐nanocrystals. Areas with regular lattice structure provide proof for the existence of nanocrystals inside the amorphous layer. In this paper, the authors discuss the technological challenges of such an approach and present first solar cells that reach conversion efficiencies of 13.7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solution processing of inorganic thin films has become an important thrust in material research community because it offers low-cost and high-throughput deposition of various functional coatings and devices. Especially inorganic thin film solar cells - macroelectronic devices that rely on consecutive deposition of layers on large-area rigid and flexible substrates - could benefit from solution approaches in order to realize their low-cost nature. This article critically reviews existing deposition approaches of functional layers for chalcogenide solar cells with an extension to other thin film technologies. Only true solutions of readily available metal salts in appropriate solvents are considered without the need of pre-fabricated nanoparticles. By combining three promising approaches, an air-stable Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cell with efficiency of 13.8% is demonstrated where all constituent layers (except the metal back contact) are processed from solutions. Notably, water is employed as the solvent in all steps, highlighting the potential for safe manufacturing with high utilization rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]