Photovoltaic is one of the promising renewable sources of power to meet the future challenge of energy need. Organic and perovskite thin film solar cells are an emerging cost-effective photovoltaic technology because of low-cost manufacturing processing and their light weight. The main barrier of commercial use of organic and perovskite solar cells is the poor stability of devices. Encapsulation of these photovoltaic devices is one of the best ways to address this stability issue and enhance the device lifetime by employing materials and structures that possess high barrier performance for oxygen and moisture. The aim of this review paper is to find different encapsulation materials and techniques for perovskite and organic solar cells according to the present understanding of reliability issues. It discusses the available encapsulate materials and their utility in limiting chemicals, such as water vapour and oxygen penetration. It also covers the mechanisms of mechanical degradation within the individual layers and solar cell as a whole, and possible obstacles to their application in both organic and perovskite solar cells. The contemporary understanding of these degradation mechanisms, their interplay, and their initiating factors (both internal and external) are also discussed.

Metastasis is a common phenomenon and the major lethal cause of lung adenocarcinoma (AdC). To discover novel potential biomarkers associated with lymph node metastasis and prognosis in lung AdC, we assessed differences in protein expression between primary lung AdC with (LNM AdC) and without lymph node metastasis (non‐LNM AdC) using a quantitative proteomic approach. Laser capture microdissection was performed to purify the cancer cells from primary lung AdC tissues. The differential proteins between the pooled microdissected non‐LNM AdC and LNM AdC tissues were identified by two‐dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D‐DIGE) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS). In this study, twenty proteins were found to be differentially expressed in two types of lung AdC. ANXA3, significantly up‐regulated in LNM AdC compared with non‐LNM AdC, was validated by western blotting. Immunohistochemistry showed that ANXA3 over‐expression was frequently observed in LNM AdCs and matched lymph node metastases compared with non‐LNM AdCs. ANXA3 over‐expression was significantly associated with advanced clinical stage (p < 0.001) and lymph node metastasis (p < 0.001) and increased relapse rate (p < 0.001) and decreased overall survival (p < 0.001) in lung AdCs. Cox regression analysis indicated ANXA3 over‐expression was an independent prognostic factor. Our results indicate that ANXA3 might serve as a novel biomarker for lymph node metastasis and prognosis in lung AdC, and play an important role in lung AdC progression. Copyright © 2008 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Tin oxide (SnO 2 ) has been reported as a promising electron transport layer (ETL) for planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells (PSCs). This work reports a low temperature solution-processed bilayer SnO 2 as an efficient ETL in gas-quenched planar-heterojunction methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI 3 ) perovskite solar cells. SnO 2 nanoparticles were employed to fill the pin-holes of sol−gel SnO 2 layer and form a smooth and compact bilayer structure. The PCE of bilayer devices has increased by 30% compared with sol− gel reference device and the J sc , V oc , and FF has been improved simultaneously. The superior performance of bilayer SnO 2 is attributed to the reduced current leakage, enhanced electron extraction characteristics, and mitigated the trapassisted interfacial recombination via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and space-charge limited current−voltage (SCLC) analysis.

Inorganic cesium lead triiodide (CsPbI 3 ) perovskite materials are becoming increasingly attractive for use in perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells, due to their almost ideal band gap energy ( E g ) of about 1.7 eV. To be useful as photovoltaic absorbers, the CsPbI 3 must form the cubic or black phase (α-CsPbI 3 ). To do so at relatively low temperatures, hydroiodic acid (HI) is required as a solution additive. This paper demonstrates CsPbI 3 perovskite solar cells with an efficiency of 6.44%, formed using a HI concentration of 36 μL/mL. This value is higher than the previous most commonly used HI additive concentration. Herein, by undertaking a systematic study of the HI concentration, we demonstrate that the structural, morphological, optical, and electrical properties of CsPbI 3 solar cells, processed with this HI additive concentration, are superior.

Organic inorganic halide perovskites have drawn great attention in the past decade, due to their superior photovoltaic performance with an efficiency over 25%. For planar heterojunction structure perovskite solar cells (PSCs) tin oxide based electron transport layers (ETLs) have become one of the most suitable candidates to replace titanium oxide to make flexible devices because of their low‐temperature processing. The deposition techniques of SnO2 can be categorized into chemical deposition, such as sol‐gel, chemical bathing or atomic layer deposition, and physical deposition, such as thermal evaporation or sputtering. Depending on the deposition technique, defects, and morphology in the SnO2 layer may vary drastically, leading to poor performance of PSCs. In this review, we have provided a comprehensive picture of the recent progress and challenges of different SnO2 ETL deposition techniques and the performance of PSC devices. The additional modifications on SnO2 mentioned in this article are also effective ways to eliminate the intrinsic defects in the film. The drawbacks and benefits of SnO2 ETLs and the corresponding actions for this are also discussed. We hope this review will help with the comprehensive understanding of the relationship between the property of SnO2 and its structure of ETLs to enhance PSCs' performance.

Solution-processed organic solar cells (OSCs) have become a promising renewable energy technology in recent years.

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have emerged as a promising renewable energy generation technology in past decades. However, the deep understanding of the details in exciton dissociation and carrier recombination in ternary organic solar cells (OSCs) is still lacking. Herein, a novel ternary OSC based on a PTB7‐Th:Y6:ITIC blend with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) enhancement of 29% is reported. A trade‐off is surprisingly found to exist between the exciton dissociation and carrier recombination process. The addition of nonfullerene acceptor Y6 in the ternary blend is found to create an efficient exciton dissociation process but accelerates the free carrier recombination process. Dielectric properties are also studied for ternary OSCs. The addition of Y6 into the binary blend is found to tune down the dielectric constant of the active layer and as a result accelerates the carrier recombination. The best performance is obtained for PTB7‐Th:Y6(5 wt%):ITIC(95 wt%)‐based ternary devices. In addition to its balanced charge carrier mobility and efficient charge extraction process, PTB7‐Th:Y6(5 wt%):ITIC(95 wt%)‐based ternary devices reach a balance in the trade‐off between the exciton dissociation and carrier recombination process and thus achieve the highest short‐circuit current density (Jsc) value.

Here we report a monolithic perovskite–perovskite–silicon triple-junction tandem solar cell with an efficiency of over 20%, an open-circuit voltage of 2.74 V, and a fill factor of 86%, which are the highest values for double- or triple-junction perovskite-based tandems reported to date. The concept and design presented here are an important milestone toward low-cost triple-junction tandem photovoltaics.