The light-harvesting Sb 2 S 3 surface on mesoporous-TiO 2 in inorganic-organic heterojunction solar cells is sulfurized with thioacetamide (TA). The photovoltaic performances are compared before and after TA treatment, and the state of the Sb 2 S 3 is investigated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). Although there are no differences in crystallinity and composition, the TA-treated solar cells exhibit signifi cantly enhanced performance compared to pristine Sb 2 S 3 -sensitized solar cells. From DLTS analysis, the performance enhancement is mainly attributed to the extinction of trap sites, which are present at a density of (2-5) × 10 14 cm −3 in Sb 2 S 3 , by TA treatment. Through such a simple treatment, the cell records an overall power conversion effi ciency (PCE) of 7.5% through a metal mask under simulated illumination (AM 1.5G, 100 mW cm -2 ) with a very high open circuit voltage of 711.0 mV. This PCE is, thus far, the highest reported for fully solid-state chalcogenide-sensitized solar cells.

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To replace the conventional chemical bath deposition method, which is time‐consuming and has a high impurity level, a chemical single‐step deposition process employing a S/Sb ratio‐controlled SbCl3‐thiourea complex solution is introduced to load Sb2S3 into a mesoporous TiO2 electrode. This technique enables the fabrication of efficient and reproducible Sb2S3‐sensitzed inorganic–organic heterojunction hybrid solar cells with hole‐conducting conjugated polymers. The most efficient cell exhibits a short‐circuit current density of 16.1 mA cm−2, an open circuit voltage of 595.5 mV, and a fill factor of 66.5%, yielding a power conversion efficiency of ≈6.4% at standard AM1.5G condition (100 mW cm−2).

Although antimony sulfoiodide (SbSI) exhibits very interesting properties including high photoconductivity, ferroelectricity, and piezoelectricity, it is not applied to solar cells. Meanwhile, SbSI is predominantly prepared as a powder using a high‐temperature, high‐pressure system. Herein, the fabrication of solar cells utilizing SbSI as light harvesters is reported for the first time to the best of knowledge. SbSI is prepared by solution processing, followed by annealing under mild temperature conditions by a reaction between antimony trisulfide, which is deposited by chemical bath deposition on a mesoporous TiO2 electrode and antimony triiodide, under air at a low temperature (90 °C) without any external pressure. The solar cells fabricated using SbSI exhibit a power conversion efficiency of 3.05% under standard illumination conditions of 100 mW cm−2.

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Sb2S3 sensitized solar cells are a promising alternative to devices employing organic dyes. The manufacture of Sb2S3 absorber layers is however slow and cumbersome. Here, we report the modified aqueous chemical bath synthesis of Sb2S3 absorber layers for sensitized solar cells. Our method is based on the hydrolysis of SbCl3 to complex antimony ions decelerating the reaction at ambient conditions, in contrast to the usual low temperature deposition protocol. This simplified deposition route allows the manufacture of sensitized mesoporous-TiO2 solar cells with power conversion efficiencies up to η = 5.1%. Photothermal deflection spectroscopy shows that the sub-bandgap trap-state density is lower in Sb2S3 films deposited with this method, compared to standard deposition protocols.

We report the first unambiguous ferroelectric properties of ultra-thin-walled Pb(Zr,Ti)O 3 (PZT) nanotube arrays, each with 5 nm thick walls and outer diameters of 50 nm. Ferroelectric switching behavior with well-saturated hysteresis loops is observed in these ferroelectric PZT nanotubes with P r and E c values of about 1.5 microC cm (-2) and 86 kV cm (-1), respectively, for a maximum applied electric field of 400 kV cm (-1). These PZT nanotube arrays (10 (12) nanotubes cm (-2)) might provide a competitive approach toward the development of three-dimensional capacitors for the terabyte ferroelectric random access memory.