Silicon quantum dots: photoluminescence controlling and solar cell application

In this invited paper, we report the effect of different annealing environments on the changeable radiative recombination characteristics of Si quantum dots (QDs), which not only provides ways to identify the photoluminescence mechanism, but also realizes the possibility to control the origin of the luminescence. We also focus on the application of Si QDs in the third-generation solar cells, with the emphasis on growth of well-ordered Si QDs, on photoresponse control of Si QDs, and on approaches to reduce the lattice thermalization loss in Si QDs solar cells.