Bin Liu

Stable high efficiency two-dimensional perovskite solar cells via cesium doping

Two-dimensional (2D) organic–inorganic perovskites have recently emerged as one of the most important thin-film solar cell materials owing to their excellent environmental stability. The remaining major pitfall is their relatively poor photovoltaic performance in contrast to 3D perovskites. In this work we demonstrate cesium cation (Cs+) doped 2D (BA)2(MA)3Pb4I13 perovskite solar cells giving a power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 13.7%, the highest among the reported 2D devices, with excellent humidity resistance. The enhanced efficiency from 12.3% (without Cs+) to 13.7% (with 5% Cs+) is attributed to perfectly controlled crystal orientation, an increased grain size of the 2D planes, superior surface quality, reduced trap-state density, enhanced charge-carrier mobility and charge-transfer kinetics. Surprisingly, it is found that the Cs+ doping yields superior stability for the 2D perovskite solar cells when subjected to a high humidity environment without encapsulation. The device doped using 5% Cs+ degrades only ca. 10% after 1400 hours of exposure in 30% relative humidity (RH), and exhibits significantly improved stability under heating and high moisture environments. Our results provide an important step toward air-stable and fully printable low dimensional perovskites as a next-generation renewable energy source.

Charge Separation between Polar {111} Surfaces of CoO Octahedrons and Their Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activity

Crystal facet engineering of semiconductors has been proven to be an effective strategy to increase photocatalytic performances. However, the mechanism involved in the photocatalysis is not yet known. Herein, we report our success in that photocatalytic performances of the Cl(-) ion capped CoO octahedrons with exposed {111} facets were activated by a treatment using AgNO3 and NH3·H2O solutions. The clean CoO {111} facets were found to be highly reactivity faces. On the basis of the polar structure of the exposed {111} surfaces, a charge separation model between polar {111} surfaces is proposed. There is an internal electric field between polar {111} surfaces due to the spontaneous polarization. The internal electric field provides a driving force for charge separation. The reduction and oxidation reactions selectively take place on the positive and negative polar {111} surfaces. The charge separation model provides a clear insight into charge transfer in the semiconductor nanocrystals with high photocatalytic activities and offer guidance to design more effective photocatalysts, solar cells, photoelectrodes, and other photoelectronic devices.

Superior adsorption performance for triphenylmethane dyes on 3D architectures assembled by ZnO nanosheets as thin as ∼1.5 nm

The 3-dimensional hierarchical ZnO flower-like architectures have been synthesized in a Zn(Ac)2·2H2O-Na2SeO3-KBH4-pyridine solvothermal system at 100°C for 24h. The flower-like architecture is assembled from ZnO nanosheets with a thickness of ∼1.5nm, and the flower-like architecture specific surface area is 132m(2)/g. When the ZnO flower-like architecture is used as the adsorbent for acid fuschin (AF), malachite green (MG), basic fuchsin (BF), congo red (CR) and acid red (AR) in water, the adsorption capacities for AF, MG, BF, CR and AR are 7154.9, 2587.0, 1377.9, 85.0 and 38.0mg/g, respectively. Evidently, the as-obtained ZnO flower-like architectures show excellent adsorption performances for triphenylmethane dyes, and the adsorption capacity of 7154.9mg/g for AF is the highest of all adsorbents for dyes. The adsorption mechanism can be attributed to the electrostatic attraction and the formation of ion-association complex between triphenylmethane dyes and ZnO hierarchical flower-like architectures.

Improved PEDOT:PSS/c-Si hybrid solar cell using inverted structure and effective passivation

The PEDOT:PSS is often used as the window layer in the normal structured PEDOT:PSS/c-Si hybrid solar cell (HSC), leading to significantly reduced response, especially in red and near-infrared region. By depositing the PEDOT:PSS on the rear side of the c-Si wafer, we developed an inverted structured HSC with much higher solar cell response in the red and near-infrared spectrum. Passivating the other side with hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) before electrode deposition, the minority carrier lifetime has been significantly increased and the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the inverted HSC is improved to as high as 16.1% with an open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 634 mV, fill factor (FF) of 70.5%, and short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 36.2 mA cm−2, an improvement of 33% over the control device. The improvements are ascribed to inverted configuration and a-Si:H passivation, which can increase photon carrier generation and reduce carrier recombination, respectively. Both of them will benefit the photovoltaic performance and should be considered as effective design strategies to improve the performance of organic/c-Si HSCs.

Visible-light photocatalysis in Cu2Se nanowires with exposed {111} facets and charge separation between (111) and () polar surfaces

The search for active narrow band gap semiconductor photocatalysts that directly split water or degrade organic pollutants under solar irradiation remains an open issue. We synthesized Cu2Se nanowires with exposed {111} facets using ethanol and glycerol as morphology controlling agents. The {111} facets were found to be the active facets for decomposing organic contaminants in the entire solar spectrum. Based on the polar structure of the Cu2Se {111} facets, a charge separation model between polar (111) and () surfaces is proposed. The internal electric field between polar (111) and () surfaces created by spontaneous polarization drives charge separation. The reduction and oxidation reactions occur on the positive (111) and negative () polar surfaces, respectively. This suggests the surface-engineering of narrow band gap semiconductors as a strategy to fabricate photocatalysts with high reactivity in the entire solar spectrum. The charge separation model can deepen the understanding of charge transfer in other semiconductor nanocrystals with high photocatalytic activities and offer guidance to design more effective photocatalysts as well as new types of solar cells, photoelectrodes and photoelectric devices.

Enhancing the Sensing Properties of TiO2 Nanosheets with Exposed {001} Facets by a Hydrogenation and Sensing Mechanism

Hydrogenation is successfully employed to improve sensing performances of the gas sensors based on TiO2 nanosheets with exposed {001} facets for the first time. The hydrogenated TiO2 nanosheets show a significantly higher response toward ethanol, acetone, triethylamine, or formaldehyde than the samples without hydrogenation, and the response further increases with an increase of the hydrogenation temperature. The excellent sensing performances are ascribed to an increase of the density of unsaturated Ti5c atoms on the {001} surface resulting from the hydrogenation process. The unsaturated Ti5c atoms are considered to serve as sensing reaction active sites. They can generate noncontributing (free) electrons and adsorb oxygen molecules, and the detailed sensing mechanism is described at atomic and molecule level. The hydrogenated strategy may be employed to enhance the sensing performances of other metal oxide sensors and catalytic reaction activities of catalyst. The concept of the surface unsaturated metal atoms serving as sensing reaction active sites not only deepens the understanding of the sensing reaction and catalytic reaction mechanism but also provides new insights into the design of advanced gas sensing materials, catalysts, and photoelectronic devices.

Magnetic Field-Assisted Perovskite Film Preparation for Enhanced Performance of Solar Cells

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are promising low-cost photovoltaic technologies with high power conversion efficiency (PCE). The crystalline quality of perovskite materials is crucial to the photovoltaic performance of the PSCs. Herein, a simple approach is introduced to prepare high-quality CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite films with larger crystalline grains and longer carriers lifetime by using magnetic field to control the nucleation and crystal growth. The fabricated planar CH3NH3PbI3 solar cells have an average PCE of 17.84% and the highest PCE of 18.56% using an optimized magnetic field at 80 mT. In contrast, the PSCs fabricated without the magnetic field give an average PCE of 15.52% and the highest PCE of 16.72%. The magnetic field action produces an ordered arrangement of the perovskite ions, improving the crystallinity of the perovskite films and resulting in a higher PCE.

Enhanced Gas Sensitivity and Sensing Mechanism of Network Structures Assembled from α-Fe2O3 Nanosheets with Exposed {104} Facets

Network structures assembled from α-Fe2O3 nanosheets with exposed {104} facets were successfully prepared by heating Fe(NO3)3 solution containing polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in air. The α-Fe2O3 nanosheet-based network structures demonstrate significantly higher response to ethanol and triethylamine than α-Fe2O3 commercial powders. The excellent sensing performances can be ascribed to the exposed (104) facet terminated with Fe atoms. A concept of the unsaturated Fe atoms serving as the sensing reaction active sites is thus proposed, and the sensing reaction mechanism is described at the atomic and molecular level for the first time in detail. The concept of the surface metal atoms with dangling bonds serving as active sites can deepen understanding of the sensing and other catalytic reaction mechanisms and provides new insight into the design and fabrication of highly efficient sensing materials, catalysts, and photoelectronic devices.

Effect of Unsaturated Sn Atoms on Gas-Sensing Property in Hydrogenated SnO 2 Nanocrystals and Sensing Mechanism

Sensing reaction mechanism is crucial for enhancing the sensing performance of semiconductor-based sensing materials. Here we show a new strategy to enhancing sensing performance of SnO2 nanocrystals by increasing the density of unsaturated Sn atoms with dangling bonds at the SnO2 surface through hydrogenation. A concept of the surface unsaturated Sn atoms serving as active sites for the sensing reaction is proposed, and the sensing mechanism is described in detail at atomic and molecule level for the first time. Sensing properties of other metal oxide sensors and catalytic activity of other catalysts may be improved by using the hydrogenation strategy. The concept of the surface unsaturated metal atoms serving as active sites may be very useful for understanding the sensing and catalytic reaction mechanisms and designing advanced sensing sensors, catalysts and photoelectronic devices.

Local temperature reduction induced crystallization of MASnI3 and achieving a direct wafer production

Despite the rapid advancement of perovskite solar cells, the fundamental drawback of toxicity in lead based materials has largely limited their large-scale development and application. Hence, we developed a local temperature reduction induced crystallization (LTRIC) method to directly obtain a lead-free perovskite wafer (CH3NH3SnI3), which is 110 μm-thick, in an oil bath. The XRD diffraction peaks of the MASnI3 wafer are indexed to (001) and its parallel crystal planes, demonstrating its high orientation. The UV-vis-NIR discloses that the absorption onset of the MASnI3 wafer is red-shifted to 1015 nm, corresponding to a narrow bandgap of 1.21 eV.