Distributed photovoltaics in living environment harvest the sunlight in different incident angles throughout the day. The development of planer solar cells with large light-receiving angle can reduce the requirements in installation form factor and is therefore urgently required. Here, thin film organic photovoltaics with nano-sized phase separation integrated in micro-sized surface topology is demonstrated as an ideal solution to proposed applications. All-polymer solar cells, by means of a newly developed sequential processing, show large magnitude hierarchical morphology with facilitated exciton-to-carrier conversion. The nano fibrilar donor-acceptor network and micron-scale optical field trapping structure in combination contributes to an efficiency of 19.06% (certified 18.59%), which is the highest value to date for all-polymer solar cells. Furthermore, the micron-sized surface topology also contributes to a large light-receiving angle. A 30% improvement of power gain is achieved for the hierarchical morphology comparing to the flat-morphology devices. These inspiring results show that all-polymer solar cell with hierarchical features are particularly suitable for the commercial applications of distributed photovoltaics due to its low installation requirement.
Low-molecular-weight adhesives (LMWAs) possess many unique features compared to polymer adhesives. However, fabricating LMWAs with adhesion strengths higher than those of polymeric materials is a significant challenge, mainly because of the relatively weak and unbalanced cohesion and interfacial adhesion. Herein, an ionic liquid (IL)-based adhesive with high adhesion strength is demonstrated by introducing an IL moiety into a Y-shaped molecule replete with hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) interactions. The IL moieties not only destroyed the rigid and ordered H-bonding networks, releasing more free groups to form hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) at the substrate/adhesive interface, but also provided electrostatic interactions that improved the cohesion energy. The synthesized IL-based adhesive, Tri-HT, could directly form thin coatings on various substrates, with high adhesion strengths of up to 12.20 MPa. Advanced adhesives with electrical conductivity, self-healing behavior, and electrically-controlled adhesion could also be fabricated by combining Tri-HT with carbon nanotubes.
In this work, fluorescent carbon quantum dots (CQDs) composite transparent film with blue emission was prepared via hydrothermal fabrication, mixing with vinyl acetate-ethylene (VAE) emulsion, coated and cross-linked on the glass in sequence.This CQD/VAE film has good sticking ability and compatibility of sealing ethylenevinyl acetate (EVA) material and works well as luminescent downshifting (LDS) materials. Based on these features, we did a set of optical characteristics analysis for CQD/VAE film and inserted a CQD/VAE film between glass and EVA encapsulation in a mini metal wrap through (MWT) solar module. This LDS could convert UV part of solar spectra, which are normally blocked by EVA, into the blue range and improve the light absorption by solar cell. Enhancement in the performance of solar modules was proved, especially the improvement of current of short circuit (I sc ), external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the UV wavelength and solar module efficiency. This material provides the chance for prompt application, since it simply solves the dispersion problem of LDS material inside encapsulation and keeps the transparency of sealing polymer materials.
In recent years, organic solar cells (OSCs) have attracted much attention due to their ease of preparation, flexibility, and lightweight. [1][2][3] Although the photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of OSCs has been improving continuously, it is still difficult to find a place to install and generate electricity in cities with dense buildings and scarce lands. [4][5][6] The application of semitransparent OSCs (ST-OSCs) for glass windows, which can transform solar energy into electricity while maintaining transparency and decorating buildings, can solve the above-mentioned problems because they cover a wide area of urban buildings and vehicles. [7,8] However, ST-OSCs are different from conventional opaque devices in that not only photovoltaic performance must be considered, but also the optical and color rendering characteristics, such as hue, saturation, and transparency. [9][10][11] Therefore, there are great challenges in preparing high-performance and bright-colored ST-OSCs. [12] The first challenge for ST-OSCs is the realization of multicolored devices because the commonly used method of generating multicolor is via employing varied photoactive layers and meanwhile fine-tuning their transmission spectra, leading to more complex device processes and process-induced performance deviations among differently colored devices. [13][14][15][16] Moreover, balancing the trade-off between photovoltaic efficiency and average visible transmittance (AVT) has to be addressed because of the decreased absorption for ST-OSCs than that of opaque counterparts. [17][18][19] For ST-OSCs, higher up than 25% of visible sunlight is inevitably transmitted through devices due to the 25% requirement benchmark of AVT for the power-generating window. [20] In addition, high color rendering index (CRI) represents a better color rendering capacity and tends to be neutral for visually comfortable ST-OSCs. [21] For these reasons, it's absolutely important to find a method that can precisely control the transmission spectra and good eye comfort colors of devices, but also ensure that different devices have high and uniform PCE.Recently, incorporating a microcavity structure into ST-OSCs and therefore adjusting device colors/performances has attracted
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