No abstract

All-inorganic and lead-free cesium tin halides (CsSnX3, X=Cl, Br, I) are highly desirable for substituting the organolead halide perovskite solar cells. However, the poor stability of CsSnX3 perovskites has so far prevented the fabrication of devices that can withstand sustained operation under normal conditions. In this paper, a two-step sequential deposition method is developed to grow high-quality B-γ-CsSnI3 thin films and their unique phase change in atmosphere is explored in detail. We find the spontaneous oxidative conversion from unstable B-γ-CsSnI3 to air-stable Cs2SnI6 in air. Allowing the phase conversion of the CsSnI3 film to evolve in ambient air it gives the semiconducting perovskite Cs2SnI6 with a bandgap of 1.48 eV and high absorption coefficient (over 10 5 cm-1 from 1.7 eV). More importantly, the Cs2SnI6 film, for the first time, is adopted as a light absorber layer for a lead-free perovskite solar cell and a preliminary estimate of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) about 1% with open-circuit voltage of 0.51 V and short-circuit current of 5.41 mA/cm 2 is realized by optimizing the perovskite absorber thickness. According to the bandgap and the Shockley-Queisser limit, such inorganic perovskite solar cell with higher efficiency and pronounced stability can be expected by material quality improvement and device engineering.

Lead‐free and more air‐stable perovskite Cs2SnI6 absorber with a direct bandgap of 1.48 eV is synthesized via a modified solution process. Different nanostructured ZnO nanorod arrays as electron transport layers and hole blocking layers are grown by controlling the seed layer and used to fabricate mesoscopic perovskite solar cells with Cs2SnI6 as light absorber layer. The influences of ZnO seed layers and nanorod morphology on the device photovoltaic performance were also investigated. With careful control of ZnO nanorod length and pore size to ensure high loading of the Cs2SnI6 absorber, we achieved power conversion efficiency of near 1%.

With plasmonic hot electron doping, the molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) monolayer with deposited Au@Ag nanorattles effectively enhanced the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) efficiency. The maximum photocatalysis is achieved under plasmon resonance excitation, and is actively controlled by the incident laser wavelength and power intensity. The localized phase transition of MoS2 is achieved and characterized to explicate this plasmon-enhanced hydrogen evolution. The proposed MoS2-nanoparticle composite combines surface plasmons and planar 2D materials, and pioneers a frontier field of plasmonic MoS2 photocatalysis.

Enhancing device lifetime is one of the essential challenges in perovskite solar cells. The ultrathin Eu‐MOF layer is introduced at the interface between the electron‐transport layer and the perovskite absorber to improve the device stability. Both Eu ions and organic ligands in the MOF can reduce the defect concentration and improve carrier transport. Moreover, due to the Förster resonance energy transfer effect, Eu‐MOF in perovskite films can improve light utilization and reduce the decomposition under ultraviolet light. Meanwhile, Eu‐MOF also turns tensile strain to compressive strain in the perovskite films. As a result, the corresponding devices achieve a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 22.16%. In addition, the devices retain 96% of their original PCE after 2000 h under the relative humidity of 30% and 91% of their original PCE after 1200 h after continuous 85 °C aging condition in N2.

Chemiresistive gas sensors with low power consumption, fast response, and reliable fabrication process for a specific target gas have been now created for many applications. They require both sensitive nanomaterials and an efficient substrate chip for heating and electrical addressing. Herein, a near room working temperature and fast response triethylamine (TEA) gas sensor has been fabricated successfully by designing gold (Au)-loaded ZnO/SnO2 core-shell nanorods. ZnO nanorods grew directly on Al2O3 flat electrodes with a cost-effective hydrothermal process. By employing pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and DC-sputtering methods, the construction of Au nanoparticle-loaded ZnO/SnO2 core/shell nanorod heterostructure is highly controllable and reproducible. In comparison with pristine ZnO, SnO2, and Au-loaded ZnO, SnO2 sensors, Au-ZnO/SnO2 nanorod sensors exhibit a remarkably high and fast response to TEA gas at working temperatures as low as 40 °C. The enhanced sensing property of the Au-ZnO/SnO2 sensor is also discussed with the semiconductor depletion layer model introduced by Au-SnO2 Schottky contact and ZnO/SnO2 N-N heterojunction.

Figure 5. Performance of LED devices of Q-2D perovskite. a) Cross-section scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of the device; scale bar: 500 nm. b,c) Current-efficiency-voltage (CE-V) curves of the Q-2D perovskite LED devices with different alkali-metal ions incorporated (b) and different amounts of KBr incorporated (c). d) J-V-L-EQE curves of the champion device with 0.5KBr added. e) Histogram of maximum EQE measured from 50 devices with 0.5KBr added. f) Stability of the perovskite LED measured at a constant current density of 0.25 mA cm -2 , with an initial luminance around 140 cd m -2 .

Copper (I) iodide (CuI) films are grown on glass substrates with a direct vacuum thermal evaporation method, and the effect of substrate temperature on their photoluminescence and transparent conductive properties is discussed. The X‐ray diffraction (XRD) measurement identifies the polycrystalline CuI film has γ‐phase with (111) preferential growth direction. When the substrate temperature is optimised at 120 °C, the average transmittance is about 90% in the wavelength range of 410–1500 nm. The electrical properties measured by Hall effect show the lowest resistivity of 1.0 × 10−2 Ωcm with hole concentration of 3.0 × 1019 cm−3 and mobility of 25 cm2 V−1s−1. These results indicate that direct thermal deposition is a simple method to grow high quality p‐type CuI films.