Efficient hole-conductor-free organic lead iodide thin film solar cells have been fabricated with a sequential deposition method, and a highest efficiency of 10.49% has been achieved. Meanwhile, the ideal current-voltage model for a single heterojunction solar cell is applied to clarify the junction property of the cell. The model confirms that the TiO 2 /CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 /Au cell is a typical heterojunction cell and the intrinsic parameters of the cell are comparable to that of the high-efficiency thin-film solar cells. V

The interfacial atomic and electronic structures, charge transfer processes, and interface engineering in perovskite solar cells are discussed in this review. An effective heterojunction is found to exist at the window/perovskite absorber interface, contributing to the relatively fast extraction of free electrons. Moreover, the high photovoltage in this cell can be attributed to slow interfacial charge recombination due to the outstanding material and interfacial electronic properties. However, some fundamental questions including the interfacial atomic and electronic structures and the interface stability need to be further clarified. Designing and engineering the interfaces are also important for the next-stage development of this cell.

At present, the photovoltaic performance of quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) is still much lower than conventional DSCs. Appropriate porous TiO(2) photoanodes for QDSCs need to be further investigated, and optimization of the nanoparticle-based photoanodes is highly desirable as well. In this article, the influence of the structural properties of various TiO(2) photoanodes on CdS/CdSe-sensitized solar cells have been systematically studied. Quantitative analyses of light-harvesting efficiency (LHE) and electron-transfer yield (Φ(ET)) for the QDSCs are investigated for the first time. It is revealed that the LHE increases in the long wavelength region with the addition of large size TiO(2) particles to the transparent film. In the meantime, the balance between the light scattering and surface area also needs to be controlled, which can significantly restrain the dark current of the device. A double-layer photoanodic structure can give 4.92% of light-to-electricity conversion efficiency with a photoactive area of 0.15 cm(2).

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Carbon electrode are a low-cost and great potential strategy for stable perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, the efficiency of carbon-based PSCs lags far behind compared with that of state-of-the-art PSCs. The poor interface contact between the carbon electrode and the underlying layer dominates the performance loss of the reported carbon-based PSCs. In this respect, a sort of self-adhesive macroporous carbon film is developed as counter electrode by a room-temperature solvent-exchange method. Via a simple press transfer technique, the carbon film can form excellent interface contact with the underlying hole transporting layer, remarkably beneficial to interface charge transfer. A power conversion efficiency of up to 19.2% is obtained for mesoporous-structure PSCs, which is the best achieved for carbon-based PSCs. Moreover, the device exhibits greatly improved long-term stability. It retains over 95% of the initial efficiency after 1000 h storage under ambient atmosphere. Furthermore, after aging for 80 h under illumination and maximum power point in nitrogen atmosphere, the carbon-based PSC retains over 94% of its initial performance.

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (e.g., CH3NH3PbI3) are promising light absorbers for the third-generation photovoltaics. Herein we demonstrate a modified two-step deposition method to fabricate a uniform CH3NH3PbI3 capping layer with high-coverage and thickness of 300 nm on top of the mesoporous TiO2. The CH3NH3PbI3 layer shows high light-harvesting efficiency and long carrier lifetime over 50 ns. On the basis of the as-prepared film, TiO2/CH3NH3PbI3 heterojunction solar cells achieve a power conversion efficiency of 10.47% with a high open-circuit voltage of 948 mV, the highest recorded to date for hole-transport-material-free (HTM-free) perovskite-based heterojunction cells. The efficiency exceeding 10% shows promising prospects for the HTM-free solar cells based on organic lead halides.

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) modified ZnO nanorods have been applied in CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite solar cells, which can show a positive effect on open circuit voltage and power conversion efficiency. The average power conversion efficiency is improved from 8.5% to 10.07% and the maximum efficiency reaches 10.7%.