ZiQi Sun

A series of metal acetylacetonates produced by a full low-temperature (below 100 °C) process are successfully employed to obtain both “multistable” and high-performance planar-inverted perovskite solar cells. All the three kinds of champion cells in small area exhibit over 18% in conversion-efficiency with negligible hysteresis, along with a conversion efficiency above 16% for planar PSCs in an aperture area of over 1 cm².

Hybrid organic/inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have shown great potential in meeting the future challenges in energy and environment. Solvent-vapor-assisted posttreatment strategies are developed to improve the perovskite film quality for achieving higher efficiency. However, the intrinsic working mechanisms of these strategies have not been well understood yet. This study identifies an MA₂Pb₃I₈(DMSO)₂ intermediate phase formed during the annealing process of methylammonium lead triiodide in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) atmosphere and located the reaction sites at perovskite grain boundaries by observing and rationalizing the growth of nanorods of the intermediate. This enables us to propose and validate an intermediate-assisted grain-coarsening model, which highlights the activation energy reduction for grain boundary migration. Leveraging this mechanism, this study uses MABr/DMSO mixed vapor to further enhance grain boundary migration kinetics and successfully obtain even larger grains, leading to an impressive improvement in power conversion efficiency (17.64%) relative to the pristine PSCs (15.13%). The revelation of grain boundary migration-assisted grain growth provides a guide for the future development of polycrystalline perovskite thin-film solar cells.

MA₂Pb₃I₈(DMSO)₂ intermediate is identified and tracked during the methylammonium lead triiodide thin-film anneal process under dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solvent vapor, which helps to reduce the activation energy of perovskite grain boundary migration. Leveraging this mechanism, an MABr/DMSO mix vapor anneal method is developed to further facillitate grain goundary migration to achieve 17.64% efficiency in NiO-based inverted perovskite solar cell.

Implementation of azobenzene-based solar thermal fuels remains challenging because UV light, a small fraction of the solar spectrum, is required for charging. In article number 1601622, Si Wu and co-workers report a four-layer solar thermal cell that stores both UV and visible light from the sun. This cell achieves a record solar efficiency (0.4%) amongst azobenzene-based solar thermal fuels.

The booming development of organometal halide perovskites has prompted the exploration of morphology-engineering strategies to improve their performance in optoelectronic applications. However, the preparation of optoelectronic devices of perovskites with complex architectures and desirable properties is still highly challenging. Herein, novel CH₃NH₃PbI₃ nanonets and nanobowl arrays are fabricated facilely by using monolayer colloidal crystal (MCC) templates on different substrates. Specifically, highly ordered CH₃NH₃PbI₃ nanonets with high crystallinity are fabricated on a variety of flat substrates, whereas regular CH₃NH₃PbI₃ nanobowl arrays are produced on a coarse substrate. The photodetection performance of the CH₃NH₃PbI₃ nanonet-based photodetectors is significantly enhanced compared to the photodetectors based on conventional CH₃NH₃PbI₃ compact films. Particularly, the nanonet photodetectors exhibit a high responsivity (10.33 A W⁻¹ under 700 nm monochromatic light), which is six times higher than that for the compact CH₃NH₃PbI₃ film devices, fast response speed, and good stability. Owing to the two-dimensional arrayed structure, the CH₃NH₃PbI₃ nanonets exhibit an enhanced light harvesting ability and offer direct carrier transport pathways. Meanwhile, the MCC template brings about larger grain sizes with enhanced crystallinity. Furthermore, the perovskite nanonets can be formed on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate substrate for the fabrication of promising flexible nanonet photodetectors.

Highly ordered CH₃NH₃PbI₃ nanonets with high crystallinity are fabricated on a variety of flat substrates through a facile nanosphere lithography approach. When used as a photodetector, the perovskite nanonet exhibits significantly enhanced photoresponsive performance owing to the unique net-like architecture that is beneficial to light harvesting and charge collection.

Solar light is widely recognized as one of the most valuable renewable energy sources for the future. However, the development of solar-energy technologies is severely hindered by poor energy-conversion efficiencies due to low optical-absorption coefficients and low quantum-conversion yield of current-generation materials. Huge efforts have been devoted to investigating new strategies to improve the utilization of solar energy. Different chemical and physical strategies have been used to extend the spectral range or increase the conversion efficiency of materials, leading to very promising results. However, these methods have now begun to reach their limits. What is therefore the next big concept that could efficiently be used to enhance light harvesting? Despite its discovery many years ago, with the potential for becoming a powerful tool for enhanced light harvesting, the slow-photon effect, a manifestation of light-propagation control due to photonic structures, has largely been overlooked. This review presents theoretical as well as experimental progress on this effect, revealing that the photoreactivity of materials can be dramatically enhanced by exploiting slow photons. It is predicted that successful implementation of this strategy may open a very promising avenue for a broad spectrum of light-energy-conversion technologies.

Slow photons can dramatically enhance the photoreactivity of semiconducting materials. It is believed that “slow photons” will break new ground to improve light harvesting of various materials for all solar-related applications in the future.

Despite the breakthrough of over 22% power conversion efficiency demonstrated in organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PVSCs), critical concerns pertaining to the instability and toxicity still remain that may potentially hinder their commercialization. In this study, a new chemical approach using environmentally friendly strontium chloride (SrCl₂) as a precursor for perovskite preparation is demonstrated to result in enhanced device performance and stability of the derived hole-conductor-free printable mesoscopic PVSCs. The CH₃NH₃PbI₃ perovskite is chemically modified by introducing SrCl₂ in the precursor solution. The results from structural, elemental, and morphological analyses show that the incorporation of SrCl₂ affords the formation of CH₃NH₃PbI₃(SrCl₂)_x perovskites endowed with lower defect concentration and better pore filling in the derived mesoscopic PVSCs. The optimized compositional CH₃NH₃PbI₃(SrCl₂)_0.1 perovskite can substantially enhance the photovoltaic performance of the derived hole-conductor-free device to 15.9%, outperforming the value (13.0%) of the pristine CH₃NH₃PbI₃ device. More importantly, the stability of the device in ambient air under illumination is also improved.

A new compositional perovskite, CH₃NH₃PbI₃(SrCl₂)_0.1 with more compact morphology and lower defect concentration is presented. Consequently, a power conversion efficiency of 15.9% with enhanced stability is achieved by employing the structure of hole-conductor-free fully printable mesoscopic perovskite solar cell.