Ye Yuan

2 months ago | mdpi.com | Xiangxi Kong |Ye Yuan |Shuai Sun |Yi Xin

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Mar 20, 2025 | nature.com | Thomas Kirchartz |Genghua Yan |Ye Yuan |David Cahen |Pabitra K. Nayak |Brijesh K. Patel

Photovoltaic (PV) technology is crucial for the transition to a carbon-neutral and sustainable society. In this Review, we provide a comprehensive overview of PV materials and technologies, including mechanisms that limit PV solar-cell and module efficiencies. First, we introduce the PV effect and efficiency losses within the framework of the Shockley–Queisser model for solar-to-electrical power conversion. However, all PV technologies fall short of these idealizations in various aspects, from incomplete sunlight absorption to the loss of photocurrent and photovoltage caused by the recombination of photogenerated charge carriers in the cells. Approaching the efficiency limits of PV technology requires material innovations and device designs that minimize these losses. Solar-cell research and development presents several solutions to these problems that are intimately related to the properties of the specific PV materials. To increase efficiencies beyond the Shockley–Queisser limit (around 33%) for a single junction, research has focused on producing multi-junction solar cells. Although these cells do provide higher efficiencies, there are differences in performance between individual cells and full modules in single-junction technologies when integrated into multi-junction configurations, highlighting the challenges in moving from laboratory experiments to commercial products. Photovoltaics is an essential technology for achieving a carbon-neutral society. This Review compares the state of the art of photovoltaic materials and technologies, detailing efficiency limitations and the innovations needed to overcome them.

Nov 18, 2024 | fis.tu-dresden.de | Zichao Li |Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf |Technische Universität Dresden |Ye Yuan

Magnetic skyrmions have been suggested as information carriers for future spintronic devices. As the first material with experimentally confirmed skyrmions, B20-type MnSi was the research focus for more than a decade. Although B20–MnSi films have been successfully grown on Si(111) substrates, there is no report about B20–MnSi films on Si(100) substrates, which would be more preferred for practical applications. In this letter, we present the first preparation of B20–MnSi on Si(100) substrates.

Oct 31, 2024 | theworldofchinese.com | Ye Yuan

“Humans are social animals, and you need to receive some recognition from your family or society. But being a stay-at-home mother doesn’t seem to bring you anything,” says Zhang. The stigma of being a stay-at-home mother and the fear of being “worthless” at home, as well as the enduring physical pain and plummeting hormone levels, overwhelmed Zhang. She often found herself crying while staring into space.

Oct 18, 2024 | mdpi.com | Ye Yuan |Jiahao Li |Qi Yu |Jian Liu

All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. No special permission is required to reuse all or part of the article published by MDPI, including figures and tables. For articles published under an open access Creative Common CC BY license, any part of the article may be reused without permission provided that the original article is clearly cited. For more information, please refer to https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess.