Meng Qingbo

Enhanced Performance in Perovskite Organic Lead Iodide Heterojunction Solar Cells with Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor Back Contact

Metal-insulator-semiconductor back contact has been employed for a perovskite organic lead iodide heterojunction solar cell, in which an ultrathin Al2O3 film as an insulating layer was deposited onto the CH3NH3PbI3 by atomic layer deposition technology. The light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of the devices is significantly enhanced from 3.30% to 5.07%. Further the impedance spectrum reveals that this insulating layer sustains part of the positive bias applied in the absorber region close to the back contact and decreases the carrier transport barrier, thus promoting transportation of carriers.

Copper doped TiO2 nanoparticles characterized by X-ray absorption spectroscopy, total scattering, and powder diffraction – a benchmark structure–property study

Metal functionalized nanoparticles potentially have improved properties e.g. in catalytic applications, but their precise structures are often very challenging to determine. Here we report a structural benchmark study based on tetragonal anatase TiO2 nanoparticles containing 0-2 wt% copper. The particles were synthesized by continuous flow synthesis under supercritical water-isopropanol conditions. Size determination using synchrotron PXRD, TEM, and X-ray total scattering reveals 5-7 nm monodisperse particles. The precise dopant structure and thermal stability of the highly crystalline powders were characterized by X-ray absorption spectroscopy and multi-temperature synchrotron PXRD (300-1000 K). The combined evidence reveals that copper is present as a dopant on the particle surfaces, most likely in an amorphous oxide or hydroxide shell. UV-VIS spectroscopy shows that copper presence at concentrations higher than 0.3 wt% lowers the band gap energy. The particles are unaffected by heating to 600 K, while growth and partial transformation to rutile TiO2 occur at higher temperatures. Anisotropic unit cell behavior of anatase is observed as a consequence of the particle growth (a decreases and c increases).

Recombination reduction in dye-sensitized solar cells by screen-printed TiO2 underlayers

In dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), the TiO2 underlayer can block the electron recombination at the FTO (fluorine doped SnO2) glass/electrolyte interface. This underlayer was traditionally prepared by spray-pyrolysis or spin coating. In this study, we develop an alternative method based on screen-printing. The quality of the screen-printed underlayers is characterized by SEM, XPS and the photoelectrochemistry measurements. The prepared underlayers are smooth and effective. The screen-printing technique is cheap and easy to handle and can produce films with different patterns. These advantages will facilitate applications of the screen-printed underlayer.

Efficiency enhancement of dye-sensitized solar cells: Using salt CuI as an additive in an ionic liquid

Energy conversion efficiency of the dye-sensitized solar cell is improved from 3.5% to 4.5% by adding a small amount of CuI into an ionic liquid electrolyte. It is found that other copper-I salts, for example, CuBr, have the same effect for the dye-sensitized solar cell. Experimental results show that no Cu2+ ions exist in this electrolyte. It is suggested that this improvement is caused by the adsorption of Cu+ onto the TiO2 porous film.

Highly Efficient Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Using a Composite Electrolyte Consisting of LiI(CH3OH)4-I2, SiO2Nano-Particles and an Ionic Liquid

Solid-state electrolyte LiI(CH3OH)4-I2 is used in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The DSSCs using only the LiI(CH3OH)4-I2 electrolyte show very poor performance due to the quick crystal growth of LiI(CH3OH)4. In order to improve the performance of DSSCs, we prepare a composite electrolyte by adding SiO2 nano-particles and an ionic liquid, 1-methyl-3-ethylimidazolium iodide, into the original solid-state electrolyte. High efficiency of 4.3% is achieved by applying this composite electrolyte to DSSCs.

Suppressing Charge Recombination in ZnO-Nanorod-Based Perovskite Solar Cells with Atomic-Layer-Deposition TiO2*

ZnO nanorods are passivated with a TiO2 interfacial layer prepared by the atomic layer deposition method and applied in the CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite solar cell, which show a positive effect on the fill factor and power conversion efficiency. With TiO2 interfacial passivation, the charge recombination in the ZnO/CH3NH3PbI3 interface is effectively suppressed and the maximum power conversion efficiency is enhanced from 11.9% to 13.4%.

Optical Design of Dye-Sensitized Nanocrystalline Solar Cells

In nanocrystalline dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) the absorption of a large fraction of the incident solar radiation is important for achieving high efficiencies. We develop a model to include both the optical process and the electrochemical process. This model allows us to calculate the performance of the different optical designs (for example the different scattering layers and the different reflecting plane). It is found that appropriate optical designs can improve the performance of DSSCs greatly.

Realizing high photovoltaic efficiency with parallel multijunction solar cells based on spectrum-splitting and -concentrating diffractive optical element

Based on the facts that multijunction solar cells can increase the efficiency and concentration can reduce the cost dramatically, a special design of parallel multijunction solar cells was presented. The design employed a diffractive optical element (DOE) to split and concentrate the sunlight. A rainbow region and a zero-order diffraction region were generated on the output plane where solar cells with corresponding band gaps were placed. An analytical expression of the light intensity distribution on the output plane of the special DOE was deduced, and the limiting photovoltaic efficiency of such parallel multijunction solar cells was obtained based on Shockley–Queissers theory. An efficiency exceeding the Shockley–Queisser limit (33%) can be expected using multijunction solar cells consisting of separately fabricated subcells. The results provide an important alternative approach to realize high photovoltaic efficiency without the need for expensive epitaxial technology widely used in tandem solar cells, thus stimulating the research and application of high efficiency and low cost solar cells.

Synthesis and Band Gap Control in Three-Dimensional Polystyrene Opal Photonic Crystals

High-quality three-dimensional polystyrene opal photonic crystals are fabricated by vertical deposition method. The transmission properties with different incident angles and different composite refractive index contrasts are experimentally and theoretically studied. Good agreement between the experiment and theory is achieved. We find that with the increasing incident angle, the gap position shifts to the short wavelength (blue shift) and the gap becomes shallower; and with the increase of refractive index of the opal void materials and decrease the contrast of refractive index, the gap position shifts to the long wavelength (red shift). At the same time, we observe the swelling effects when the sample is immerged in the solutions with different refractive indices, which make the microsphere diameter in solution become larger than that in air. The understanding of band gap shift behaviour may be helpful in designing optical sensors and tunable photonic crystal ultrafast optical switches.

A New Method for Generating Hydrogen from Water

A new method for generating hydrogen by the reaction of Al powder with water using iodine as additive is developed. I2 can penetrate through the surface oxide layer on aluminium to form AlI3. High solubility of AlI3 in water is benefited to activate Al surface. It is found that the production of hydrogen becomes significant above 60° C and obeys a logarithm rule. The pH value varies from 5 to 3 then back to 4.5 during the reaction, which is determined mainly by the kinetics of hydration reaction of AlI3 and the reaction of Al and HI produced spontaneously.