Nanostructured material comprising semiconductor nanocrystal complexes for use in solar cell and method of making a solar cell comprising nanostructured material

1 . A solar cell comprising:

a semiconductor base layer;

a semiconductor nanocrystal complex over the semiconductor base layer; and

a semiconductor emitter layer formed over the semiconductor nanocrystal complex, wherein the semiconductor nanocrystal complex comprises nanocrystal cores dispersed in an inorganic matrix material.

2 . The solar cell of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor nanocrystal cores further comprise shells formed around each of the semiconductor nanocrystal cores.

3 . The solar cell of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor base layer is an n-type base layer and the semiconductor emitter layer is a p-type emitter layer.

4 . The solar cell of claim 2 , wherein the material properties of the semiconductor nanocrystal cores are selected to produce a desired intermediate energy bandgap.

5 . The solar cell of claim 4 , wherein the material properties of the semiconductor nanocrystal cores is selected to produce energy minibands within a bandgap of the semiconductor base layer and the semiconductor emitter layer.

6 . The solar cell of claim 5 , wherein the material properties comprise at least one of a spacing of the semiconductor nanocrystal cores, a size of the semiconductor nanocrystal cores, and electronic properties of the semiconductor nanocrystal cores.

7 . The solar cell of claim 5 , wherein a lowest of the energy minibands has a miniband energy level approximately ⅓ of a bandgap energy of the semiconductor base layer and the semiconductor emitter layer.

8 . The solar cell of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor nanocrystal complex comprises two populations of semiconductor nanocrystals having different properties.

9 . The solar cell of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic material comprises a semiconductor material.

10 . A method of forming a solar cell, comprising:

forming a semiconductor base layer;

forming a semiconductor nanocrystal complex over the semiconductor base layer; and

forming a semiconductor emitter layer over the semiconductor nanocrystal complex, wherein forming the semiconductor nanocrystal complex comprises forming nanocrystal cores dispersed in an inorganic matrix material.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein forming the semiconductor nanocrystal cores further comprises forming formed around each of the semiconductor nanocrystal cores.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein forming the semiconductor base layer comprises forming an n-type base layer and forming the semiconductor emitter layer comprises forming a p-type emitter layer.

13 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising selecting the material properties of the semiconductor nanocrystal cores to produce a desired intermediate energy bandgap.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising selecting the material properties of the semiconductor nanocrystal cores to produce energy minibands within a bandgap of the semiconductor base layer and the semiconductor emitter layer.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the material properties comprise at least one of a spacing of the semiconductor nanocrystal cores, a size of the semiconductor nanocrystal cores, and electronic properties of the semiconductor nanocrystal cores.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein a lowest of the energy minibands has a miniband energy level approximately ⅓ of a bandgap energy of the semiconductor base layer and the semiconductor emitter layer.

17 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the semiconductor nanocrystal complex comprises two populations of semiconductor nanocrystals having different properties.

18 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the inorganic material comprises a semiconductor material.