Lanthanide nanomaterials with photon management characteristics for photovoltaic application

Currently, one of the major limits for the efficiency improvement of solar cells is ascribed to the spectral mismatch between the incident solar photon spectrum and the band gap of semiconductor. To reduce the energy losses including lattice thermalization loss and sub-band gap transmission loss, spectral modification through down-shifting, down-conversion as well as up-conversion of photons is regarded as an effective route. Herein, an overview on current state of research in lanthanide doped nanomaterials with photon management characteristics is presented, and the challenges and outlooks of these spectral modifiable nanomaterials applied in photovoltaic field are pointed out. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.