Because the visible and the infrared (IR) regions take up ∼47% and ∼51% of the energy in the solar spectrum (AM 1.5G standard), respectively, utilizing the visible light for plant growth and the IR light for power generation is potentially extremely exciting. IRabsorbing organic semiconductors, with localized IR absorption and visible-light transmittance, would be promising materials for this purpose. Here, flexible transparent organic photovoltaics (TOPVs) based on IR-absorbing organic materials were proposed, which can be a simple, low-cost, and promising way to utilize the IR light for electricity generation, and the penetrated visible light will be utilized for photosynthesis in plants. A power-conversion efficiency of ∼10% with an average visible transmittance of 34% was achieved for TOPV devices. Meanwhile, the side-by-side comparison showed that plants grown under the TOPVs filtered light, and those under normal sunlight yielded very similar results. These outcomes demonstrated the results from TOPV devices beyond simple photovoltaic applications.
Upscalable fabrication of efficient and stable perovskite solar modules is urgently needed for commercialization. Herein, we introduce methylammonium chloride (MACl) additives in the cosolvent system of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) / N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) to control the formation of intermediate phases during the growth of formamidinium (FA)-cesium (Cs) lead triiodide perovskite films. We achieve high quality films upon drying without the use of antisolvent.By implementing bulk and surface passivation, the champion efficiencies of 24.02% for a smallsized solar cell and 20.5% for a 5 cm × 5 cm solar mini-module on an aperture area of 22.4 cm 2 (geometrical fill factor is ~96%) are achieved by spin-coating. The fully blade-coated perovskite 2 solar sub-module demonstrates a champion efficiency of 15.3% on an aperture area of 205 cm 2 . The solar mini-module exhibits impressive operational stability with a T80 lifetime over 1000 hours at maximum power point tracking (MPPT) under continuous light illumination.
Organic electronics have gained widespread attention due to their flexibility, lightness, and low-cost potential. It is attractive due to the possibility of large-scale roll-to-roll processing. However, organic electronics require additional development before they can be made commercially available and fully integrated into everyday life. To achieve feasibility for commercial use, these devices must be biocompatible and flexible while maintaining high performance. In this study, biocompatible silk fibroin (SF) was integrated with a mesh of silver nanowires (AgNWs) to build up flexible organic solar cells with maximum power conversion efficiency of up to 6.62%. The AgNW/SF substrate exhibits a conductivity of ∼11.0 Ω/sq and transmittance of ∼80% in the visible light range. These substrates retained their conductivity, even after being bent and unbent 200 times; this surprising ability was attributed to its embedded structure and the properties of the specific SF materials used. To contrast, indium tin oxide on synthetic plastic substrate lost its conductivity after the much less rigid bending. These lightweight and silk-based organic solar cells pave the way for future biocompatible interfaces between wearable electronics and human skin.
PSS hinders the power conversion efficiency (PCE) in comparison with those of traditional p-n junction. Here, a strong inversion layer was formed on n-Si surface by inserting a layer of 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11-hexaazatriphenylene hexacarbonitrile (HAT-CN), resulting in a quasi p-n junction. External quantum efficiency spectra, capacitance-voltage, transient photovoltage decay and minority charge carriers life mapping measurements indicated that a quasi p-n junction was built due to the strong inversion effect, resulting in a high Φb and Vbi. The quasi p-n junction located on the front surface region of silicon substrates improved the short wavelength light conversion into photocurrent. In addition, a derivative perylene diimide (PDIN) layer between rear side of silicon and aluminum cathodes was used to block the holes from flowing to cathodes. As a result, the device with PDIN layer also improved photoresponse at longer wavelength. A champion PCE of 14.14% was achieved for the nanostructured silicon-organic device by combining HAT-CN and PDIN layers. The low temperature and simple device structure with quasi p-n junction promises cost-effective high performance photovoltaic techniques.
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