We demonstrated compact SnO2thin films prepared by sinter-less spin-coating processes as an electron selective contact for CH3NH3PbI3-based planar-heterojunction perovskite solar cells (PSCs).

CuI is used to control the molecular orientation of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) and modify the anodes in organic solar cells based on CuPc/C60. By introducing a CuI buffer between indium tin oxide and CuPc, the power conversion efficiency is significantly enhanced by a factor of ∼70%. Because of the strong interactions between the CuI and CuPc, the stacking orientation of CuPc molecules is changed, resulting in a ∼65% increase in absorption coefficient, a larger carrier mobility and a smoother film surface. The anode work function is raised by the formation of a dipole layer.

A universal strategy is developed to construct a cascade Z‐Scheme system, in which an effective energy platform is the core to direct charge transfer and separation, blocking the unexpected type‐II charge transfer pathway. The dimension‐matched (001)TiO2‐g‐C3N4/BiVO4 nanosheet heterojunction (T‐CN/BVNS) is the first such model. The optimized cascade Z‐Scheme exhibits ≈19‐fold photoactivity improvement for CO2 reduction to CO in the absence of cocatalysts and costly sacrificial agents under visible‐light irradiation, compared with BVNS, which is also superior to other reported Z‐Scheme systems even with noble metals as mediators. The experimental results and DFT calculations based on van der Waals structural models on the ultrafast timescale reveal that the introduced T as the platform prolongs the lifetimes of spatially separated electrons and holes and does not compromise their reduction and oxidation potentials.

Die rationale Entwicklung effizienter Photokatalysatoren mit günstiger Ladungstrennung und breiter spektraler Absorption ist entscheidend für eine ökonomische Umwandlung von Solarenergie in chemische Energie. F. Q. Bai, J. Tang, L. Q. Jing et al. zeigen in ihrer Zuschrift auf S. 10989 H‐verbrückte ZnPc/BiVO4‐Nanokomposite als ultradünnen, räumlich angepassten 2D/2D‐Heteroübergang zur effizienten photokatalytischen CO2‐Reduktion über eine breite Region des sichtbaren Lichts.

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Dimension-matched Au/TiO2/BiVO4 nanocomposites have been constructed by first preparing BiVO4 nanoflakes via an ion exchange process from BiOCl nanosheets, followed by coupling (001) facet exposed TiO2 nanosheets and then modifying plasmonic Au nanorods.

ZnO thin films prepared by spin-coating of nanoparticles at low temperature were utilized as the electron collection layer in CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 -based perovskite solar cells having a planar heterojunction structure. The thickness of ZnO layer as a key parameter to determine the photovoltaic performance was optimized. The highest power conversion efficiency of up to 13.9% with small hysteretic behavior of currentvoltage curves was achieved under AM 1.5 illumination (100 mW cm ¹2). The ZnO-based devices exhibited significantly improved durability as compared to the control device with exposure to the ambient air environment.Since the initial report in 2009, 1 organo-lead-halide-based perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been attracting attention, and there has been great progress in this field.2 Intensive developments have elevated the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of PSCs to 19.6% within half a decade.3c Although a majority of PSCs are based on mesoporous TiO 2 requiring sintering at 500°C, parallel studies into low-temperature-processed PSCs for realizing a wearable/stretchable energy supplier are also in focus.3 In particular, ZnO-based PSCs are attractive owing to the following characteristics of ZnO materials: (1) ZnO is a wideband semiconductor having the band gaps and band energies similar to those of TiO 2 . (2) ZnO has higher electron mobility than TiO 2 .4 (3) Importantly, high crystallinity of ZnO could be attained without sintering processes. 5a Although some efficient PSCs based on ZnO have been reported so far, 5 their doubtable performance as indicated by the large hysteresis 5b from the photovoltaic behaviors and poor stability against ambient air suggest that further investigations are necessary. 6 In this study, we fabricated PSCs with ZnO electron collection layers that were processed at temperature of as low as 150°C. The effect of ZnO layer thickness on the device performance was investigated. Our results indicated that the ZnO-based PSCs can show high PCE with weak hysteretic behavior and excellent stability against ambient air without encapsulation.The ZnO nanoparticles used in this investigation were prepared according to procedures in the literature. 5a The ZnO nanoparticles were dispersed in butanol with a concentration of 6 mg mL ¹1 . The solution was spin-coated on ITO substrates to form a relatively compact ZnO layer and then heated at 150°for 5 min. This procedure could be repeated several times to obtain a certain thickness according to experimental requirements. A 460 mg mL ¹1 solution of PbI 2 in DMF was then spin-coated on top of the ZnO layer at 4000 rpm. After a short baking process at 70°C for 30 min, the substrate was dipped into a CH 3 NH 3 I solution (10 mg mL ¹1 in 2-propanol) for 50 s followed by heating at 70°C for 20 min to realize the desired crystallite formation. The details of fabrication and characterization of PSCs are described in the Supporting Information. Figure 1a schematically shows the device configuration of the PSCs studied in this investigation, and Fig...

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