Hydrogenated TiO2 Thin Film for Accelerating Electron Transport in Highly Efficient Planar Perovskite Solar Cells.

Intensive studies on low-temperature deposited electron transport materials have been performed to improve the efficiency of n-i-p type planar perovskite solar cells to extend their application on plastic and multijunction device architectures. Here, a TiO2 film with enhanced conductivity and tailored band edge is prepared by magnetron sputtering at room temperature by hydrogen doping (HTO), which accelerates the electron extraction from perovskite photoabsorber and reduces charge transfer resistance, resulting in an improved short circuit current density and fill factor. The HTO film with upward shifted Fermi level guarantees a smaller loss on VOC and facilitates the growth of high-quality absorber with much larger grains and more uniform size, leading to devices with negligible hysteresis. In comparison with the pristine TiO2 prepared without hydrogen doping, the HTO-based device exhibits a substantial performance enhancement leading to an efficiency of 19.30% and more stabilized photovoltaic performance maintaining 93% of its initial value after 300 min continuous illumination in the glove box. These properties permit the room-temperature magnetron sputtered HTO film as a promising electron transport material for flexible and tandem perovskite solar cell in the future.

Origin of Photovoltage Enhancement via Interfacial Modification with Silver Nanoparticles Embedded in an a-SiC:H p-Type Layer in a-Si:H Solar Cells.

We used silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) embedded in the p-type semiconductor layer of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells in the Schottky barrier contact design to modify the interface between aluminum-doped ZnO (ZnO:Al, AZO) and p-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (p-a-SiC:H) without plasmonic absorption. The high work function of the Ag-NPs provided a good channel for the transport of photogenerated holes. A p-type nanocrystalline SiC:H layer was used to compensate for the real surface defects and voids on the surface of Ag-NPs to reduce recombination at the AZO/p-type layer interface, which then enhanced the photovoltage of single-junction a-Si:H solar cells to values as high as 1.01 V. The Ag-NPs were around 10 nm in diameter and thermally stable in the p-type a-SiC:H film at the solar-cell process temperature. We will also show that a wide range of photovoltages between 1.01 and 2.89 V could be obtained with single-, double-, and triple-junction solar cells based on the single-junction a-Si:H solar cells with tunable high photovoltage. These solar cells are suitable photocathodes for solar water-splitting applications.

Facile Fabrication of Micro-Nano Structured Triboelectric Nanogenerator with High Electric Output.

In this article, a new method is used to fabricate a high-performance triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), which is convenient and cost-effective. A polyformaldehyde (POM) film with novel structures is prepared through electrospinning and is combined with a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film to assemble micro-nano structured TENG. The short-circuit current (I s) and open-circuit voltage (V o) of the TENG are up to 0.4343 mA and 236.8 V, respectively, and no significant change is observed by applying different frequencies of external impact forces from 1 to 10 Hz. Finally, we successfully drive an electrochromic device (ECD) directly using TENG within just 2 min for the first time.

Sensitivity of pressure sensors enhanced by doping silver nanowires.

We have developed a highly sensitive flexible pressure sensor based on a piezopolymer and silver nanowires (AgNWs) composite. The composite nanofiber webs are made by electrospinning mixed solutions of poly(inylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and Ag NWs in a cosolvent mixture of dimethyl formamide and acetone. The diameter of the fibers ranges from 200 nm to 500 nm, as demonstrated by SEM images. FTIR and XRD results reveal that doping Ag NWs into PVDF greatly enhances the content of ß phase in PVDF. This ß phase increase can be attributed to interactions between the Ag NWs and the PVDF matrix, which forces the polymer chains to be embedded into the ß phase crystalline. The sensitivity of the pressure sensors agrees well with the FTIR and XRD characteristics. In our experiments, the measured sensitivity reached up to 30 pC/N for the nanofiber webs containing 1.5 wt% Ag NWs, which is close to that of poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE), (77/23)]. This study may provide a new method of fabricating high performance flexible sensors at relatively low cost compared with sensors based on [P(VDF-TrFE), (77/23)].