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Abstract: A graphene oxide (GO) film is functionalized with metal (Au) and metal‐oxide (MoOx) nanoparticles (NPs) as a hole‐extraction layer for high‐performance inverted planar‐heterojunction perovskite solar cells (PSCs). These NPs can increase the work function of GO, which is confirmed with X‐ray photoelectron spectra, Kelvin probe force microscopy, and ultraviolet photoelectron spectra measurements. The down‐shifts of work functions lead to a decreased level of potential energy and hence increased Voc of the PSC devices. Although the GO‐AuNP film shows rapid hole extraction and increased Voc, a Jsc improvement is not observed because of localization of the extracted holes inside the AuNP that leads to rapid charge recombination, which is confirmed with transient photoelectric measurements. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the GO‐AuNP device attains 14.6%, which is comparable with that of the GO‐based device (14.4%). In contrast, the rapid hole extraction from perovskite to the GO‐MoOx layer does not cause trapping of holes and delocalization of holes in the GO film accelerates rapid charge transfer to the indium tin oxide substrate; charge recombination in the perovskite/GO‐MoOx interface is hence significantly retarded. The GO‐MoOx device consequently shows significantly enhanced Voc and Jsc, for which its device performance attains PCE of 16.7% with great reproducibility and enduring stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We synthesized and characterized methylammonium (MA) mixed tri-halide tin perovskites (MASnIBr2− xClx) for carbon-based mesoscopic solar cells free of lead and hole-transporting layers. Varied SnCl2/SnBr2 ratios yielded tin perovskites with three halides (I, Br, and Cl) co-crystallized inside the tin-perovskite. When the SnCl2 proportion was ≥50 % ( x≥1), phase separation occurred to give MASnI3− yBr y and MASnCl3− zBr z in the stoichiometric proportions of their precursors, confirmed by XRD. A device with MASnIBr1.8Cl0.2 (SnCl2=10 %) showed the best photovoltaic performance: JSC=14.0 mA cm−2, VOC=380 mV, FF=0.573, and PCE=3.1 %, and long-term stability. Electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) show superior charge recombination and dielectric relaxation properties for the MASnIBr1.8Cl0.2 cell. Transient PL decays showed the intrinsic problem of tin-based perovskites with average lifetimes less than 100 ps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Remarkable power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of metal-halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are overshadowed by concerns about their ultimate stability, which is arguably the prime obstacle to commercialization of this promising technology. Herein, the problem is addressed by introducing ethane-1,2-diammonium (+NH3(CH2)2NH3+, EDA2+) cations into the methyl ammonium (CH3NH3+, MA+) lead iodide perovskite, which enables, inter alia, systematic tuning of the morphology, electronic structure, light absorption, and photoluminescence properties of the perovskite films. Incorporation of <5 mol% EDA2+ induces strain in the perovskite crystal structure with no new phase formed. With 0.8 mol% EDA2+, PCE of the MAPbI3-based PSCs (aperture of 0.16 cm2) improves from 16.7% ± 0.6% to 17.9% ± 0.4% under 1 sun irradiation, and fabrication of larger area devices (aperture 1.04 cm2) with a certified PCE of 15.2% ± 0.5% is demonstrated. Most importantly, EDA2+/MA+-based solar cells retain 75% of the initial performance after 72 h of continuous operation at 50% relative humidity and 50 °C under 1 sun illumination, whereas the MAPbI3 devices degrade by approximately 90% within only 15 h. This substantial improvement in stability is attributed to the steric and coulombic interactions of embedded EDA2+ in the perovskite structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To produce mesoscopic carbon-electrode-based solar cells free of a hole-conduction layer, we developed a simple one-step drop-cast method (temperature 20 °C, relative humidity 50%) to grow uniform and compact perovskite nanocrystals via slow crystallization (SC). X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicated that perovskite nanocrystals produced inside the mesoporous TiO2/Al2O3/C layers according to our SC approach with N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) as a precursor solvent showed a preferred orientation at facet (004) with large crystalline grains, whereas those produced with other solvents or via thermal annealing (TA) methods showed greater intensity at facet (220) with small crystals. After the SC (NMP) procedure was completed, additional TA treatment would change the preferred orientation from (004) back to facet (220), which would break the connectivity and lose the uniformity of the crystals, causing the grains to become significantly smaller. Transient photoluminescence (PL) decay profiles of the SC devices made with four precursor solvents, NMP, γ-butyrolactone (GBL), dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), were recorded to show the trend of charge separation kinetics of the perovskite crystals inside the mesoporous films, which is consistent with the trend of the corresponding device performance showing the same order. The SC (NMP) device attained the best efficiency of power conversion (PCE), 15.0%, with average value (13.9 ± 0.5%), which is much superior to those devices from either the traditional one-step TA (DMF) method (5.2 ± 1.0%) or the traditional sequential TA method (10.1 ± 0.7%). This work emphasizes the significance of the control of preferred orientation of perovskite nanocrystals using the SC approach, to obtain high-performance carbon-based mesoscopic solar cells with excellent reproducibility and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycerol at 10–20 g l-1 increased clavulanic acid production by Streptomyces clavuligerus in shake-flask culture. The biosynthesis of clavulanic acid continued for longer by feeding glycerol and production increased to 250 mg l-1 compared with 115 mg l-1 without feeding. In fermenter batch culture, degradation of clavulanic acid began after 72 h. With glycerol feeding in fed-batch culture, clavulanic acid production was not only increased further to about 280 mg l-1 but also remained stable up to 130 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]