Two-Dimensional Materials for Next-Generation Solar Cell Technologies

Rising global energy demand and the depletion of conventional resources are rapidly driving a shift toward sustainable, renewable power-generation technologies. Solar cells provide a clean, abundant, and economically viable route for direct energy conversion. However, traditional silicon photovoltaics suffer from inherent drawbacks, including reflection losses, recombination associated with their indirect bandgap, and significant thermal dissipation, all of which restrict device efficiency and durability.In response, two-dimensional (2D) materials have emerged as attractive building blocks for next-generation solar cells. Systems such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides, MXenes, and black phosphorus offer tunable electronic structures, pronounced light–matter interactions, high carrier mobilities, and outstanding mechanical flexibility. Incorporated into photovoltaic architectures, these 2D materials enable refined interface engineering, more efficient charge extraction, improved charge transport, defect and passivation control, and suppressed recombination, thereby opening new routes to higher efficiency, improved stability, and scalable solar-energy technologies.This Research Topic welcomes contributions exploring the role of 2D materials in advanced photovoltaic systems, including organic and polymer solar cells, perovskite solar cells, tandem devices, hybrid photovoltaic architectures, and flexible or wearable optoelectronic devices. Particular interest will be given to studies addressing interface and passivation engineering, device architecture optimization, charge extraction and transport mechanisms, stability enhancement, scalable fabrication strategies, and the integration of 2D materials into emerging solar-cell platforms. Both theoretical and experimental studies, including density functional theory, device simulation, materials synthesis, interface characterization, and prototype device development, are encouraged. Topic editors: Niket Powar, Jingnan Wu, Preetika Sharma, Gaurav Sapra Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/79154/two-dimensional-materials-for-next-generation-solar-cell-technologies