Micropatternable double-faced (DF) zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoflowers (NFs) for flexible gas sensors have been successfully fabricated on a polyimide (PI) substrate with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as electrode. The fabricated sensor comprises ZnO nanoshells laid out on a PI substrate at regular intervals, on which ZnO nanorods (NRs) were grown in- and outside the shells to maximize the surface area and form a connected network. This three-dimensional network structure possesses multiple gas diffusion channels and the micropatterned island structure allows the stability of the flexible devices to be enhanced by dispersing the strain into the empty spaces of the substrate. Moreover, the micropatterning technique on a flexible substrate enables highly integrated nanodevices to be fabricated. The SWCNTs were chosen as the electrode for their flexibility and the Schottky barrier they form with ZnO, improving the sensing performance. The devices exhibited high selectivity toward NO as well as outstanding sensing characteristics with a stable response of 218.1, fast rising and decay times of 25.0 and 14.1 s, respectively, and percent recovery greater than 98% upon NO exposure. The superior sensing properties arose from a combination of high surface area, numerous active junction points, donor point defects in the ZnO NRs, and the use of the SWCNT electrode. Furthermore, the DF-ZnO NF gas sensor showed sustainable mechanical stability. Despite the physical degradation observed, the devices still demonstrated outstanding sensing characteristics after 10 000 bending cycles at a curvature radius of 5 mm.

Flexible zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod (NR) ultraviolet (UV)/gas dual sensors using silver (Ag) nanoparticle (NP) templates were successfully fabricated on a polyimide substrate with nickel electrodes. Arrays of Ag NPs were used as a template for the growth of ZnO NRs, which could enhance the flexibility and the sensing properties of the devices through the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect. The Ag NPs were fabricated by the rapid thermal annealing process of Ag thin films, and ZnO NRs were grown on Ag NPs to maximize the surface area and form networks with rod-to-rod contacts. Because of the LSPR effect by Ag NPs, the UV photoresponse of the ZnO NRs was amplified and the depletion region of ZnO NRs was formed quickly because of the Schottky contact with the Ag NPs. As a consequence, ZnO NR UV/gas dual sensors grown on the Ag NP template with a diameter of 28 nm exhibited the outstanding UV-sensing characteristics with a UV on-off ratio of 3628 and a rising time ( t) and a decay time ( t) of 3.52 and 0.33 s upon UV exposure, along with excellent NO-sensing characteristics with a stable gas on-off ratio of 288.5 and a t and t of 38 and 62 s upon NO exposure. Furthermore, the sensors grown on the Ag NP template exhibited good mechanical flexibility and stable sensing properties without significant degradation even after the bending test up to 10 000 cycles at the bending radius of 5 mm.

The morphology of perovskite films has a significant impact on luminous characteristics of perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs). To obtain a highly uniform methylammonium lead tribromide (MAPbBr) film, a gas-assisted crystallization method is introduced with a mixed solution of MAPbBr precursor and polymer matrix. The ultrafast evaporation of the solvent causes a high degree of supersaturation which expedites the generation of a large number of nuclei to form a MAPbBr-polymer composite film with full surface coverage and nano-sized grains. The addition of the polymer matrix significantly affects the optical properties and morphology of MAPbBr films. The PeLED made of the MAPbBr-polymer composite film exhibits an outstanding device performance of a maximum luminance of 6800 cd·m and a maximum current efficiency of 1.12 cd·A. Furthermore, 1 cm area pixel of PeLED displays full coverage of a strong green electroluminescence, implying that the high-quality perovskite film can be useful for large-area applications in perovskite-based optoelectronic devices.

Processing temperature is highlighted as a convenient means of controlling the optical and charge transport properties of solution processed electron transport layers (ETLs) in inverted polymer solar cells. Using the well-studied active layer -poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT):indene-C 60 bisadduct (ICBA) -we show the influence of ETL processing temperatures from 25 °C -450 °C, reporting the role of crystallinity, structure, charge transport and Fermi level (E F ) on numerous device performance characteristics. We determine that an exceptionally low temperature processed ETL (110 °C) increases that device power conversion efficiency (PCE) by a factor greater than 50% compared with a high temperature (450 °C) processed ETL. Modulations in device series and shunt resistance, induced by changes in the ETL transport properties are observed in parallel to significant changes in device open circuit voltage attributed to changes on the E F of the ETLs. Our work highlights the importance of interlayer control in multilayer photovoltaic devices and presents a convenient material compatible with future flexible and roll-to-roll processes.

By investigating the influence of key growth variables on the measured structural and electrical properties of SnO2 prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) we demonstrate fine control of intrinsic n-type defect formation.