The sharp increase of research passion in the new-generation solar cells in recent years has resulted in a new trend in combining multiple types of energy devices in a single device. In view of the enhanced and/or diversified function of integrated devices, as compared with conventional devices with limited performance or sole applicability, many integrated power packs have been widely developed by combining different devices, such as a silicon solar cell (SSC), Cu(In,Ga)(Sn,Se)2 (CIGS), organic solar cell (OSC), dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), perovskite solar cell (PSC), lithium-ion battery (LIB), nanogenerator (NG), supercapacitor (SC), photoelectrosynthetic cell (PESC), and electrolysis cell (ELC), into one unit. In this Review, with a particular emphasis on their recent advances, we cover the integrated solar cell device research in a broad sense and provide an overview of state-of-the-art progress on the integrated solar cell devices based on DSSC and PSC, such as DSSC/LIB, DSSC/SC, DSSC/NG, DSSC/LIB/NG, PSC/OSC, PSC/CIGS, PSC/PSC, PSC/SSC, SSC/SC, PSC/SC, OSC/SC, DSSC/PESC, PSC/PESC, and PSC/ELC, for energy harvesting and storage that are significantly important for self-powering systems and portable/wearable electronics. Finally, the challenges and future outlooks in this promising photovoltaic (PV) field are featured on the basis of current development.

New-generation integrated devices based on dye-sensitized and perovskite solar cells

Perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells have reached efﬁciencies above 25% in just about three years of development, mostly driven by the rapid progress made in the perovskite solar cell research ﬁeld. This review aims to give an overview of the achievements made in this timeframe toward the goal of developing high-efﬁciency perovskite/silicon tandem cells with sufﬁciently large area and long lifetime to be commercially interesting. The developments that led to the recent progress in tandem cell efﬁciency, as well as the fac-tors currently still limiting their performance, including parasitic absorption, reﬂection losses, and the nonideal perovskite absorber layer bandgap, are discussed. Based on this discussion, guidelines for future developments are given. In addition, crucial aspects to enable the commercialization of pero-vskite/silicon tandem solar cells are reviewed, such as device stability and upscaling. Finally, economic considerations show how the number of steps and/or the costs associated to these steps for realizing the perovskite cell must be kept to a minimum to keep up with progress in the ﬁeld of silicon photovoltaics.

Perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells: marriage of convenience or true love story? - An overview

Solar Charging Batteries: Advances, Challenges, and Opportunities

Despite the high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), poor long-term stability is one of the main obstacles preventing their commercialization. Several approaches to enhance the stability of PSCs have been proposed. However, an accelerating stability test of PSCs at high temperature under the operating conditions in ambient air remains still to be demonstrated. Herein, interface-engineered stable PSCs with inorganic charge-transport layers are shown. The highly conductive Al-doped ZnO films act as efficient electron-transporting layers as well as dense passivation layers. This layer prevents underneath perovskite from moisture contact, evaporation of components, and reaction with a metal electrode. Finally, inverted-type PSCs with inorganic charge-transport layers exhibit a PCE of 18.45% and retain 86.7% of the initial efficiency for 500 h under continuous 1 Sun illumination at 85 °C in ambient air with electrical biases (at maximum power point tracking).

Perovskite Solar Cells with Inorganic Electron- and Hole-Transport Layers Exhibiting Long-Term (≈500 h) Stability at 85 °C under Continuous 1 Sun Illumination in Ambient Air.

The role of thermodynamics in assessing the intrinsic instability of the CH3NH3PbX3 perovskites (X = Cl,Br,I) is outlined on the basis of the available experimental information. Possible decomposition/degradation pathways driven by the inherent instability of the material are considered. The decomposition to precursors CH3NH3X(s) and PbX2(s) is first analyzed, pointing out the importance of both the enthalpic and the entropic factor, the latter playing a stabilizing role making the stability higher than often asserted. For CH3NH3PbI3, the disagreement between the available calorimetric results makes the stability prediction uncertain. Subsequently, the gas-releasing decomposition paths are discussed, with emphasis on the discrepant results presently available, probably reflecting the predominance of thermodynamic or kinetic control. The competition between the formation of NH3(g) + CH3X(g), CH3NH2(g) + HX(g) or CH3NH3X(g) is analyzed, in comparison with the thermal decomposition of methylammonium halides....

Xin Cai

Papers

Recent progress in stabilizing hybrid perovskites for solar cell applications

The Combined Impact of Magnetic Field and Chloride Ion Concentration on Corrosion Behavior of Al-Mg Alloys