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Large scale deployment of renewable energy brings new scientific,
engineering,
social and environment challenges.
In particular,
conversion of sunlight into electricity using photovoltaic (PV) devices is considered by many to be the most feasible strategy to fulfill world energy consumption in the future.
However,
solar generated electricity currently has a higher cost-per-watt than fossil fuels,
which limits its widespread acceptance as a power source.
One avenue to reducing PV's overall cost-per-watt is by increasing the absorption of sunlight into the active semiconducting PV materials.
Recent developments to improve solar spectrum absorption,
their advantages and limitations will be discussed.
New technologies to produce nanostructures for energy applications,
including thermoelectrics,
will be also discussed.
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