The performance of solar cells based on organic–inorganic perovskites strongly depends on the device architecture and processing conditions. It is now shown that solvent engineering enables the deposition of very dense perovskite layers on mesoporous titania, leading to photovoltaic devices with a high light-conversion efficiency and no hysteresis.

Solvent engineering for high-performance inorganic–organic hybrid perovskite solar cells

Within the space of a few years, hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite solar cells have emerged as one of the most exciting material platforms in the photovoltaic sector. This review describes the rapid progress that has been made in this area.

The emergence of perovskite solar cells

Inorganic–organic lead halide perovskite could be efficient when used as the light-harvesting component of solar cells; here incorporation of methylammonium lead bromide into formamidinium lead iodide stabilizes the perovskite and improves the power conversion efficiency of the solar cell up to 17.9 per cent. Inorganic–organic lead halide perovskites are currently attracting considerable interest for solar-cell applications. Most of the best performing perovskite solar cells to date have made use of methylammonium-based perovskites; formamidinium-based perovskites have also shown promise, but are not as stable. Now Nam Joong Jeon and colleagues show that the formamidinium-based perovskites can be stabilized by the addition of some methylammonium-based perovskite, and that solar cells incorporating the resulting compositionally tuned materials can reach new heights of efficiency. Of the many materials and methodologies aimed at producing low-cost, efficient photovoltaic cells, inorganic–organic lead halide perovskite materials1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 appear particularly promising for next-generation solar devices owing to their high power conversion efficiency. The highest efficiencies reported for perovskite solar cells so far have been obtained mainly with methylammonium lead halide materials1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Here we combine the promising—owing to its comparatively narrow bandgap—but relatively unstable formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI3) with methylammonium lead bromide (MAPbBr3) as the light-harvesting unit in a bilayer solar-cell architecture13. We investigated phase stability, morphology of the perovskite layer, hysteresis in current–voltage characteristics, and overall performance as a function of chemical composition. Our results show that incorporation of MAPbBr3 into FAPbI3 stabilizes the perovskite phase of FAPbI3 and improves the power conversion efficiency of the solar cell to more than 18 per cent under a standard illumination of 100 milliwatts per square centimetre. These findings further emphasize the versatility and performance potential of inorganic–organic lead halide perovskite materials for photovoltaic applications.

Compositional engineering of perovskite materials for high-performance solar cells

Department of Materials Science, University of Patras, 26504 Rio Patras, Greece, Theoretical and Physical Chemistry Institute, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 48 Vass. Constantinou Avenue, 116 35 Athens, Greece, Institut de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire, UPR9021 CNRS, Immunologie et Chimie Therapeutiques, 67084 Strasbourg, France, and Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Universita di Trieste, Piazzale Europa 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy

Chemistry of Carbon Nanotubes

Small but strong: A review of the mechanical properties of carbon nanotube–polymer composites

Grain boundaries in Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1−x)4 (CZTSSe) thin films act as a defect that reduces the mobility of the charges. Hence one way to improve the performance of these thin film solar cells is to increase the grain size in the films. Most of the synthesis methods published so far for CZTSSe colloidal nanoparticles can achieve a general size distribution range from 5–20 nm. This is where the particle size will saturate for most recipes used today. The assumption is that uniform size distribution is good for grain growth in a thin film but based on packing considerations, an optimal mixture of large and small nanoparticles that can easily be dispersed in non-polar solvents could be better. Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) and Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe) nanoparticles are synthesized using the hot-injection method with oleylamine, trioctylphosphine, and hexadecane as the solvents. Selenium (Se) is introduced in the liquid phase to encourage grain growth – liquid selenization. This eliminates the need to anneal the film in a Se-containing atmosphere and allows for a more environmentally friendly process with lower temperatures and shorter annealing times. We show that a good dispersion can be achieved by choosing suitable surfactant molecules, solvents and precursors, and by controlling the initial monomer concentration. Additionally, we show how our new synthesis route can be utilized to achieve targeted ratios of CZTS and CZTSe nanoparticles to be used for mixed-phase CZTSSe thin films.

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Synthesis of large CZTSe nanoparticles through a two-step hot-injection method

Controlled chemical stabilization of self-assembled PS-P4VP nanostructures.

The addition of a small amount of high boiling point solvent in organic donor/acceptor blends to control their morphology is a viable approach to enhance the power conversion efficiency of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells. Herein, through transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS) correlated with physical characterizations and device studies, we investigate the effects of a family of thiol-based additives (i.e., 1,5-pentanedithiol (PDT), 1,6-hexanedithiol (HDT) and 1,8-octanedithiol (ODT)) in P3HT:PCBM blend films in a bid to establish a morphology-function-charge dynamics relationship with their photovoltaic performances. The performance of solar cell devices (ηHDT = 2.8%, ηODT = 2.8%, ηPDT = 1.7%) is related to the additive-induced phase separation and the degree of ordering of P3HT. TAS uncovers a more efficient initial exciton and polaron generation in the additive-treated blend samples compared to the non-additive treated control sample. HDT and ODT-added blends exhibit decay dynamics and performances similar to those of the thermally annealed samples. However, the PDT-added blend exhibits a strong trap-assisted recombination in the subsequent nanosecond-microsecond timescales. We attribute this to the loss of charge carriers in the larger isolated P3HT domains due to the lack of percolation paths to the electrode. Our findings illustrate that understanding the complex interplay of the crystalline order, intermixed phases and percolation pathways is key to optimizing the performance of thermal-annealing free, additive-treated organic solar cells.

Correlation between blend morphology and recombination dynamics in additive-added P3HT:PCBM solar cells.

This work sets out to study the effect of hydrophobic molecules on the morphology of aqueous solutions of amphiphilic block copolymer, which has potential drug delivery applications. The effect is studied both experimentally and by using simulations. Using cryogenic TEM observations, micelles can clearly be visualised and their core size measured. While pure polymer solutions form into spherical micelles with a narrow size distribution, addition of small amounts of hydrophobic drug molecules leads to distortions in shape, a wider size distribution, and larger average core diameter. Simulations are based on a mesoscale dynamic density functional method with Gaussian chain Hamiltonian and mean-field interactions, as implemented in the MesoDyn code. With parameters for the amphiphilic system established in earlier work, and mean-field interactions for the drug molecule derived from structure ‐ property relationships, we obtain good agreement with the TEM observations for the effect of the hydrophobic molecules on the morphology. The simulations clearly show how increasing drug concentration leads to an increase in micelle size, a wider distribution and more elongated rather than spherical micelles.

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Yeng Ming Lam

Papers

Synthesis of large CZTSe nanoparticles through a two-step hot-injection method

Controlled chemical stabilization of self-assembled PS-P4VP nanostructures.

Correlation between blend morphology and recombination dynamics in additive-added P3HT:PCBM solar cells.

Mesoscale Simulation and cryo-TEM of Nanoscale Drug Delivery Systems

Poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(propylene oxide)-b-poly(ethylene oxide)-g-poly(vinyl pyrrolidone): Synthesis and characterization