The role of materials engineering is to provide the much needed support in the development of photovoltaic devices with the new and fundamental researches on novel energy materials with tailor-made photonic properties. Advanced Energy Materials has been designed to provide the state-of-the-art so that scientists can fully be informed of this vast multi-disciplinary approach.

A good understanding on the excited state reactivity of photoactive materials helps to prepare new materials and molecules capable of absorbing light over a given wavelength range and using it for driving electron transfer. Scientifically and technologically well-equipped materials science has explored the possibilities of developing and optimizing the charge separation in the light-harvesting architectures, however it is yet to bear fruit due to the difficulty of transportation of electrons and holes to the corresponding electrodes. Modeling charge mobility in semiconductors is complicated due to the presence of bulk heterogeneity in the structure. The understanding of the interface between the metal electrode and the active materials, where charge collection takes place, is even more intriguing.

In this book, the contributors have highlighted and provide in-depth detail of the key features that enable scientists to design new energy materials for the vast landscape of solar energy conversion as well as the materials processing and characterizations.