Inorganic p-Type Semiconductors: Their Applications and Progress in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells and Perovskite Solar Cells

Abstract

Considering the increasing global demand for energy and the harmful ecological impact of conventional energy sources, it is obvious that development of clean and renewable energy is a necessity. Since the Sun is our only external energy source, harnessing its energy, which is clean, non-hazardous and infinite, satisfies the main objectives of all alternative energy strategies. With attractive features, i.e., good performance, low-cost potential, simple processibility, a wide range of applications from portable power generation to power-windows, photoelectrochemical solar cells like dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) represent one of the promising methods for future large-scale power production directly from sunlight. While the sensitization of n-type semiconductors (n-SC) has been intensively studied, the use of p-type semiconductor (p-SC), e.g., the sensitization of wide bandgap p-SC and hole transport materials with p-SC have also been attracting great attention. Recently, it has been proved that the p-type inorganic semiconductor as a charge selective material or a charge transport material in organometallic lead halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) shows a significant impact on solar cell performance. Therefore the study of p-type semiconductors is important to rationally design efficient DSCs and PSCs. In this review, recent published works on p-type DSCs and PSCs incorporated with an inorganic p-type semiconductor and our perspectives on this topic are discussed.

Promising sensitizers for dye sensitized solar cells: A comparison of Ru(II) with other earth's scarce and abundant metal polypyridine complexes

“…NiO with a wide band gap and resistant to photocorrosion is hence much more suitable. Still, the efficiencies of NiO DSSCs are not satisfactory due to small short‐circuit current densities, low open circuit voltage and small fill factors. PMI‐6 T‐TPA (where PMI or perylene monoimide is the acceptor and triphenylamine or TPA is the donor) as the dye sensitizer and NiO as the photocathode has the record efficiency currently with Co(II)/Co(III) as the redox couple .…”

Influence of thickness on the structure and electrical, optical properties of N-doped SnO2 film

“…Hiện nay, màng dẫn điện trong suốt (TCOs) do sở hữu tính chất độc đáo như độ truyền qua trong vùng ánh sáng khả kiến cao đồng thời độ dẫn tốt nên nó được sử dụng trong các thiết bị quang điện như màn hình phẳng, pin mặt trời, LEDs [1][2][3][4] . Ngoài ra, trong những năm gần đây, các thiết bị điện tử trong suốt được xem là lĩnh vực mới và nhận được sự chú ý của các nhà khoa học trên thế giới.…”

Fabrication of Cost-Effective Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Using Sheet-Like CoS2 Films and Phthaloylchitosan-Based Gel-Polymer Electrolyte

“…The redox peaks (Ox-2/Red-2, Ox-1/Red-1) contained two pairs for both the CoS2 and Pt electrodes. The configuration of right and left redox pairs are shown in Equations (1) and (2).…”