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Developing X-ray charged dosimeters with excellent charge carrier storage capacity and stability is challenging. Such energy storage dosimeters have fascinating use in developing novel applications, for instance, in radiation detection, advanced multimode anti-counterfeiting, and flexible X-ray imaging of curved objects. Herein, novel LiTaO3:Ln3+,Eu3+ (Ln = Tb or Pr) perovskite dosimeters are reported by combining the vacuum referred binding energy (VRBE) diagram of LiTaO3 and the optimization of dopant's concentration and compound synthesis condition. Based on the VRBE diagram prediction, charge carrier capturing and de-trapping processes in Eu3+ and/or Ln3+ (Ln = Tb or Pr) doped LiTaO3 will be studied to unravel the role of Eu3+ as a good electron trapping centre and to discover a record storage phosphor. The ratios of the thermoluminescence intensity of the optimized LiTaO3:0.005Tb3+,0.001Eu3+ to that of the state-of-the-art BaFBr(I):Eu2+, Al2O3:C, or NaLuF4:Tb3+ are 5.2, 8.8, or 2.8, respectively. The charge carriers can be stored more than 1000 h in LiTaO3:0.005Tb3+,0.001Eu3+. Proof-of-concept anti-counterfeiting application will be demonstrated by combining the colour-tailorable photoluminescence, afterglow, thermally, or optically stimulated luminescence in LiTaO3:0.005Tb3+,xEu3+ and LiTaO3:0.005Pr3+,0.001Eu3+. Multimode anti-counterfeiting application will be proposed by combining a high absolute X-ray scintillation light yield of 19000 ± 1800 ph/MeV of LiTaO3:0.005Tb3+,0.001Eu3+. Proof-of-concept flexible X-ray imaging application will be demonstrated by using the optimized LiTaO3:0.005Tb3+, 0.001Eu3+ dispersed in a sil, Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., RST/Luminescence Materials

Multimode luminescence relates to how charge carriers are transported and recombined in response to various physical excitations. It shows promising applications in many fields like advanced anti-counterfeiting, information storage and encryption. Enabling a stable single compound with multimode luminescence is a unique technology but still remains a challenge. Herein, a versatile and high-performance energy storage LiTaO3:0.01Tb3+,xGd3+ perovskite is discovered by utilizing the interplay of electron-trapping defect levels and hole-trapping Tb3+. It combines an excellent charge carrier storage capacity (≈7 and 12 times higher than state-of-the-art BaFBr(I):Eu2+ and Al2O3:C), >1200 h storage duration, >40 h afterglow, efficient optically stimulated luminescence, persistent mechanoluminescence, and force-induced charge carrier storage features. Particularly, it well responds to various stimuli channels, i.e., wide-range X-rays to 850 nm infrared photons, thermal activation, mechanical force grinding, or compression. To elucidate this multimode luminescence, charge carrier trapping and release processes in LiTaO3:0.01Tb3+,xGd3+ with various physical stimulations will be unraveled by combining the vacuum-referred binding diagram construction, spectroscopy, thermoluminescence, and mechanoluminescence techniques. The versatile and high-performance LiTaO3:0.01Tb3+,xGd3+ enables promising proof-of-concept multimode luminescence applications in advanced anti-counterfeiting, flexible X-ray imaging, continuous compression force sensing, and non-real-time recording., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., RST/Luminescence Materials

It is challenging to obtain a material that can detect photons ranging from X-rays to infrared light. Such materials have promising use to develop advanced applications like in information storage, anticounterfeiting, or X-ray imaging. This article reports on such a material; LiTaO3:xBi3+,yDy3+ perovskite phosphor. Experimental spectroscopy, thermoluminescence, and vacuum referred binding energy diagram (VRBE) construction are combined to study the trapping processes of charge carriers. The VRBEs in the ground or excited states of Bi3+ and Bi2+ are discussed. Bi3+ emerges to act as a ≈1.3 eV deep hole capturing center and it may possibly also act as a 0.80 ± 0.5 eV deep electron trapping center. A linear relation between the amount of stored charge carriers and a photochromic phenomenon both induced by X-rays or 254 nm UV-light charging appears. The stored charge carriers in LiTaO3:xBi3+,yDy3+ are removed by heating or with an optically stimulated process with 365 nm UV light to 850 nm infrared laser. More than 3 or 40 h of Bi3+ and Dy3+ based white afterglow is measurable in LiTaO3:0.005Bi3+,0.004Dy3+ after exposure to X-rays or 254 nm UV light. Proof-of-concept light detection applications like 2D information storage and anticounterfeiting or X-ray imaging are demonstrated by using the phtotochromic and white afterglow LiTaO3:xBi3+,yDy3+ phosphors., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., RST/Luminescence Materials

Developing X-ray or UV-light charged storage and mechanoluminescence (ML) materials with high charge carrier storage capacity is challenging. Such materials have promising utilization in developing new applications, for example, in flexible X-ray imaging, stress sensing, or non-real-time recording. Herein, the study reports on such materials; Bi3+, Tb3+, Ga3+, or Ge4+ doped LiTaO3 perovskite storage and ML phosphors. Their photoluminescence, thermoluminescence (TL), and ML properties are studied. The charge carrier trapping and release processes in the Bi3+, Tb3+, Ga3+, or Ge4+ doped LiTaO3 are explained by using the constructed vacuum referred binding energy diagram of LiTaO3 including the energy level locations of unintended defects, Tb3+, Bi3+, and Bi2+. The ratio of the TL intensity after X-ray charging of the optimized LiTaO3:0.005Bi3+,0.006Tb3+,0.05Ga3+, or LiTaO3:0.005Bi3+,0.006Tb3+,0.05Ge4+ to that of the state-of-the-art BaFBr(I):Eu2+ is ≈1.2 and 2.7, respectively. Force induced charge carrier storage phenomena is studied in the Tb3+, Bi3+, Ga3+, or Ge4+ doped LiTaO3. Proof-of-concept compression force distribution sensing and X-ray imaging is demonstrated by using optimized LiTaO3:0.005Bi3+,0.006Tb3+,0.05Ga3+ dispersed in a hard epoxy resin disc and in a silicone gel film. Proof-of-concept color-tailorable ML for anti-counterfeiting is demonstrated by admixing commercial ZnS:Cu+,Mn2+ with optimized LiTaO3:0.005Bi3+,0.006Tb3+,0.05Ge4+ in an epoxy resin disc., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., RST/Luminescence Materials

It is challenging to rational design persistent luminescence and storage phosphors with high storage capacity of electrons and holes after X-ray charging. Such phosphors have potential applications in anti-counterfeiting and X-ray imaging. Here we have combined vacuum referred binding energy diagram (VRBE) construction, photoluminescence spectroscopy, and thermoluminescence to study the trapping processes of charge carriers in NaYGeO4. In NaYGeO4:0.004Bi3+ and NaYGeO4:0.004Bi3+,0.005Ln3+ (Ln = Tb or Pr), Bi3+ appears to act as a shallow electron trap, while Bi3+ and Ln3+ act as deep hole trapping and recombination centres. We will show how to experimentally determine the VRBE in the Bi2+ 2P1/2 ground state in NaYGeO4 and NaLuGeO4 by thermoluminescence study. The electron trap depth produced by Bi3+ codopant in NaLu1-xYxGeO4:0.003Bi3+,0.008 Tb3+ can be adjusted, by increasing x, resulting in conduction band engineering. By combining Bi3+ as an electron trap and Bi3+ and Tb3+ as the hole traps, excellent X-ray charged afterglow phosphors were developed. The integrated TL intensity of the optimized NaYGeO4:0.004Bi3+ and NaYGeO4:0.003Bi3+,0.008Tb3+ after exposure to X-rays is about 4.5 and 1.1 times higher than that of the state-of-the-art BaFBr(I):Eu2+ storage phosphor. Intense initial Tb3+ 4f → 4f afterglow appears in NaYGeO4:0.003Bi3+,0.008Tb3+ and more than 40 h afterglow is measurable in NaYGeO4:0.004Bi3+ and NaYGeO4:0.003Bi3+, 0.008 Tb3+ after X-ray charging. We will show proof-of-concept anti-counterfeiting and X-ray imaging applications by using the developed, Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., RST/Luminescence Materials

Owing to its nice performance, low cost, and simple solution-processing, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cell (PSC) becomes a promising candidate for next-generation high-efficiency solar cells. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) has boosted from 3.8% to 25.2% over the past ten years. Despite the rapid progress in PCE, the device stability is a key issue that impedes the commercialization of PSCs. Recently, all-inorganic cesium lead halide perovskites have attracted much attention due to their better stability compared with their organic-inorganic counterpart. In this progress report, we summarize the properties of CsPb(IxBr1− x)3 and their applications in solar cells. The current challenges and corresponding solutions are discussed. Finally, we share our perspectives on CsPb(IxBr1− x)3 solar cells and outline possible directions to further improve the device performance.

Owing to its nice performance, low cost, and simple solution-processing, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cell (PSC) becomes a promising candidate for next-generation high-efficiency solar cells. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) has boosted from 3.8% to 25.2% over the past ten years. Despite the rapid progress in PCE, the device stability is a key issue that impedes the commercialization of PSCs. Recently, all-inorganic cesium lead halide perovskites have attracted much attention due to their better stability compared with their organic-inorganic counterpart. In this progress report, we summarize the properties of CsPb(IxBr1− x)3 and their applications in solar cells. The current challenges and corresponding solutions are discussed. Finally, we share our perspectives on CsPb(IxBr1− x)3 solar cells and outline possible directions to further improve the device performance.

Owing to its nice performance, low cost, and simple solution-processing, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cell (PSC) becomes a promising candidate for next-generation high-efficiency solar cells. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) has boosted from 3.8% to 25.2% over the past ten years. Despite the rapid progress in PCE, the device stability is a key issue that impedes the commercialization of PSCs. Recently, all-inorganic cesium lead halide perovskites have attracted much attention due to their better stability compared with their organic-inorganic counterpart. In this progress report, we summarize the properties of CsPb(IxBr1-x)(3) and their applications in solar cells. The current challenges and corresponding solutions are discussed. Finally, we share our perspectives on CsPb(IxBr1-x)(3) solar cells and outline possible directions to further improve the device performance. (C) 2019 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science China Press. All rights reserved., Funding Agencies|National Key Research and Development Program of China [2017YFA0206600]; National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of China [51773045, 21572041, 21772030]

Compared to the conventional perovskite solar cells (PSCs) containing hole-transport materials (HTM), carbon materials based HTM-free PSCs (C-PSCs) have often suffered from inferior power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) arising at least partially from the inefficient hole extraction at the perovskite-carbon interface. Here, we show that boron (B) doping of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (B-MWNTs) electrodes are superior in enabling enhanced hole extraction and transport by increasing work function, carrier concentration, and conductivity of MWNTs. The C-PSCs prepared using the B-MWNTs as the counter electrodes to extract and transport hole carriers have achieved remarkably higher performances than that with the undoped MWNTs, with the resulting PCE being considerably improved from 10.70% (average of 9.58%) to 14.60% (average of 13.70%). Significantly, these cells show negligible hysteretic behavior. Moreover, by coating a thin layer of insulating aluminum oxide (Al2O3) on the mesoporous TiO2 film as a physical barrier to substantially reduce the charge losses, the PCE has been further pushed to 15.23% (average 14.20%). Finally, the impressive durability and stability of the prepared C-PSCs were also testified under various conditions, including long-term air exposure, heat treatment, and high humidity. © 2017 American Chemical Society.

Compared to the conventional perovskite solar cells (PSCs) containing hole-transport materials (HTM), carbon materials based HTM-free PSCs (C-PSCs) have often suffered from inferior power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) arising at least partially from the inefficient hole extraction at the perovskite-carbon interface. Here, we show that boron (B) doping of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (B-MWNTs) electrodes are superior in enabling enhanced hole extraction and transport by increasing work function, carrier concentration, and conductivity of MWNTs. The C-PSCs prepared using the B-MWNTs as the counter electrodes to extract and transport hole carriers have achieved remarkably higher performances than that with the undoped MWNTs, with the resulting PCE being considerably improved from 10.70% (average of 9.58%) to 14.60% (average of 13.70%). Significantly, these cells show negligible hysteretic behavior. Moreover, by coating a thin layer of insulating aluminum oxide (Al2O3) on the mesoporous TiO2 film as a physical barrier to substantially reduce the charge losses, the PCE has been further pushed to 15.23% (average 14.20%). Finally, the impressive durability and stability of the prepared C-PSCs were also testified under various conditions, including long-term air exposure, heat treatment, and high humidity. © 2017 American Chemical Society.

Compared to the conventional perovskite solar cells (PSCs) containing hole-transport materials (HTM), carbon materials based HTM-free PSCs (C-PSCs) have often suffered from inferior power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) arising at least partially from the inefficient hole extraction at the perovskite-carbon interface. Here, we show that boron (B) doping of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (B-MWNTs) electrodes are superior in enabling enhanced hole extraction and transport by increasing work function, carrier concentration, and conductivity of MWNTs. The C-PSCs prepared using the B-MWNTs as the counter electrodes to extract and transport hole carriers have achieved remarkably higher performances than that with the undoped MWNTs, with the resulting PCE being considerably improved from 10.70% (average of 9.58%) to 14.60% (average of 13.70%). Significantly, these cells show negligible hysteretic behavior. Moreover, by coating a thin layer of insulating aluminum oxide (Al2O3) on the mesoporous TiO2 film as a physical barrier to substantially reduce the charge losses, the PCE has been further pushed to 15.23% (average 14.20%). Finally, the impressive durability and stability of the prepared C-PSCs were also testified under various conditions, including long-term air exposure, heat treatment, and high humidity. © 2017 American Chemical Society.

Trap states in semiconductors usually degrade charge separation and collection in photovoltaics due to trap-mediated nonradiative recombination. Here, it is found that perovskite can be heavily doped in low concentration with non-ignorable broadband infrared absorption in thick films and their trap states accumulate electrons through infrared excitation and hot carrier cooling. A hybrid one-sided abrupt perovskite/TiO2 p-N heterojunction is demonstrated that enables partial collection of these trap-filled charges through a tunneling process instead of detrimental recombination. The tunneling is from broadband trap states in the wide depleted p-type perovskite, across the barrier of the narrow depleted TiO2 region (<5 nm), to the N-type TiO2 electrode. The trap states inject carriers into TiO2 through tunneling and produce around-unity peak external quantum efficiency, giving rise to near-infrared photovoltaics. The near-infrared response allows photodetecting devices to work in both diode and conductor modes. This work opens a new avenue to explore the near-infrared application of hybrid perovskites. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

In this work, we have designed a mesoporous TiO2 nanobowl (NB) array with pore size, bowl size and film thickness being easily controllable by the sol-gel process and the polystyrene (PS) template diameter. Based on the TiO2 NB array, we fabricated carbon cathode based perovskite solar cells (C-PSCs) to investigate the impact of TiO2 NB nanostructures on the performance of the as-obtained C-PSCs devices. As expected, the TiO2 NB based devices show a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) than that of the planar counterpart, mainly due to the enhanced light absorption arising from the NB-assisted light management, the improved pore-filling of high quality perovskite crystals and the increased interface contact for rapid electron extraction and fast charge transport. Leveraging these advantages of the novel TiO2 NB film, the 220 nm-PS templated TiO2 NB based devices performed the best on both light absorption capability and charge extraction, and achieved a PCE up to 12.02% with good stability, which is 37% higher than that of the planar counterpart. These results point to a viable and convenient route toward the fabrication of TiO2 ETL nanostructures for high performance PSCs. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016.

Carbon-based hole transport material (HTM)-free perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have shown much promise for practical applications because of their high stability and low cost. However, the efficiencies of this kind of PSCs are still relatively low, especially for the simplest paintable carbon-based PSCs, in comparison with the organic HTM-based PSCs. This can be imputed to the perovskite deposition methods that are not very suitable for this kind of devices. A solvent engineering strategy based on two-step sequential method is exploited to prepare a high-quality perovskite layer for the paintable carbon-based PSCs in which the solvent for CH3NH3I (MAI) solution at the second step is changed from isopropanol (IPA) to a mixed solvent of IPA/Cyclohexane (CYHEX). This mixed solvent not only accelerates the conversion of Pbl(2) to CH(3)NH(3)Pbl(3) but also suppresses the Ostwald ripening process resulting in a high-quality perovskite layer, e.g., pure phase, even surface, and compact capping layer. The paintable carbon-based PSCs fabricated from IPA/CYHEX solvent exhibits a considerable enhancement in photovoltaic performance and performance reproducibility in comparison with that from pure IPA, especially on fill factor (FF), owing mainly to the better contact of perovskite/carbon interface, lower trap density in perovskite, higher light absorption ability, and faster charge transport of perovskite layer. As a result, the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.38% is obtained, which is a record value for carbon-based HTM-free PSCs. Furthermore, a PCE of as high as 10% is achieved for the large area device (1 cm(2)), also the highest of its kind.

This work explores the use of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) modified carbon nanotubes (CNTs@P3HT) for the cathodes of hole transporter free, mesoscopic perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) solar cells (PSCs), simultaneously achieving high-performance, high stability and low-cost PSCs. Here the thin P3HT modifier acts as an electron blocker to inhibit electron transfer into CNTs and a hydrophobic polymer binder to tightly cross-link the CNTs together to compact the carbon electrode film and greatly stabilize the solar cell. On the other hand, the presence of CNTs greatly improve the conductivity of P3HT. By optimizing the concentration of the P3HT modifier (2 mg/mL), we have improved the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of CNTs@P3HT based PSCs up to 13.43% with an average efficiency of 12.54%, which is much higher than the pure CNTs based PSCs (best PCE 10.59%) and the sandwich-type P3HT/CNTs based PSCs (best PCE 9.50%). In addition, the hysteresis of the CNTs@P3HT based PSCs is remarkably reduced due to the intimate interface between the perovskite and CNTs@P3HT electrodes. Degradation of the CNTs@ P3HT based PSCs is also strongly retarded as compared to cells employing the pure CNTs electrode when exposed to the ambient condition of 20%–40% humidity. © 2016, Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Pyrite (FeS2) stands out from other metal sulfides due to its abundance, low toxicity and high specific energy density. However, the low utilization and short cycle life of FeS2 caused by irreversible side reactions and dramatic structural changes during charge/discharge process seriously hinders its practical application. In this work, we designed FeS2 nanochains to address these issues because this unique structure not only shortens the ion/electron diffusion distance, increases the electrode/electrolyte contact area, but also accommodates the strain associated with Li ion intercalation and deintercalation reactions. Compared with nanoparticles, the FeS2 nanochains synthesized by magnetic-field-assisted aerosol pyrolysis could cycle up to 800 cycles at 0.5C, remained a discharge capacity of 342.4 mA h g−1 in the voltage range of 1.0-2.6 V and achieved a remarkable capacity fading rate of 0.02% per cycle, which is among the best values demonstrated so far for Li/FeS2 cells. In-situ Raman experiments revealed that the irreversible side reactions could be suppressed through controlling the voltage window, which can be benefit for further improving the performance of Li/FeS2 cells. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd

In this work, we have designed a mesoporous TiO2 nanobowl (NB) array with pore size, bowl size and film thickness being easily controllable by the sol-gel process and the polystyrene (PS) template diameter. Based on the TiO2 NB array, we fabricated carbon cathode based perovskite solar cells (C-PSCs) to investigate the impact of TiO2 NB nanostructures on the performance of the as-obtained C-PSCs devices. As expected, the TiO2 NB based devices show a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) than that of the planar counterpart, mainly due to the enhanced light absorption arising from the NB-assisted light management, the improved pore-filling of high quality perovskite crystals and the increased interface contact for rapid electron extraction and fast charge transport. Leveraging these advantages of the novel TiO2 NB film, the 220 nm-PS templated TiO2 NB based devices performed the best on both light absorption capability and charge extraction, and achieved a PCE up to 12.02% with good stability, which is 37% higher than that of the planar counterpart. These results point to a viable and convenient route toward the fabrication of TiO2 ETL nanostructures for high performance PSCs. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016.

Carbon-based hole transport material (HTM)-free perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have shown much promise for practical applications because of their high stability and low cost. However, the efficiencies of this kind of PSCs are still relatively low, especially for the simplest paintable carbon-based PSCs, in comparison with the organic HTM-based PSCs. This can be imputed to the perovskite deposition methods that are not very suitable for this kind of devices. A solvent engineering strategy based on two-step sequential method is exploited to prepare a high-quality perovskite layer for the paintable carbon-based PSCs in which the solvent for CH3NH3I (MAI) solution at the second step is changed from isopropanol (IPA) to a mixed solvent of IPA/Cyclohexane (CYHEX). This mixed solvent not only accelerates the conversion of Pbl(2) to CH(3)NH(3)Pbl(3) but also suppresses the Ostwald ripening process resulting in a high-quality perovskite layer, e.g., pure phase, even surface, and compact capping layer. The paintable carbon-based PSCs fabricated from IPA/CYHEX solvent exhibits a considerable enhancement in photovoltaic performance and performance reproducibility in comparison with that from pure IPA, especially on fill factor (FF), owing mainly to the better contact of perovskite/carbon interface, lower trap density in perovskite, higher light absorption ability, and faster charge transport of perovskite layer. As a result, the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.38% is obtained, which is a record value for carbon-based HTM-free PSCs. Furthermore, a PCE of as high as 10% is achieved for the large area device (1 cm(2)), also the highest of its kind.

Trap states in semiconductors usually degrade charge separation and collection in photovoltaics due to trap-mediated nonradiative recombination. Here, it is found that perovskite can be heavily doped in low concentration with non-ignorable broadband infrared absorption in thick films and their trap states accumulate electrons through infrared excitation and hot carrier cooling. A hybrid one-sided abrupt perovskite/TiO2 p-N heterojunction is demonstrated that enables partial collection of these trap-filled charges through a tunneling process instead of detrimental recombination. The tunneling is from broadband trap states in the wide depleted p-type perovskite, across the barrier of the narrow depleted TiO2 region (<5 nm), to the N-type TiO2 electrode. The trap states inject carriers into TiO2 through tunneling and produce around-unity peak external quantum efficiency, giving rise to near-infrared photovoltaics. The near-infrared response allows photodetecting devices to work in both diode and conductor modes. This work opens a new avenue to explore the near-infrared application of hybrid perovskites. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

This work explores the use of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) modified carbon nanotubes (CNTs@P3HT) for the cathodes of hole transporter free, mesoscopic perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) solar cells (PSCs), simultaneously achieving high-performance, high stability and low-cost PSCs. Here the thin P3HT modifier acts as an electron blocker to inhibit electron transfer into CNTs and a hydrophobic polymer binder to tightly cross-link the CNTs together to compact the carbon electrode film and greatly stabilize the solar cell. On the other hand, the presence of CNTs greatly improve the conductivity of P3HT. By optimizing the concentration of the P3HT modifier (2 mg/mL), we have improved the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of CNTs@P3HT based PSCs up to 13.43% with an average efficiency of 12.54%, which is much higher than the pure CNTs based PSCs (best PCE 10.59%) and the sandwich-type P3HT/CNTs based PSCs (best PCE 9.50%). In addition, the hysteresis of the CNTs@P3HT based PSCs is remarkably reduced due to the intimate interface between the perovskite and CNTs@P3HT electrodes. Degradation of the CNTs@ P3HT based PSCs is also strongly retarded as compared to cells employing the pure CNTs electrode when exposed to the ambient condition of 20%–40% humidity. © 2016, Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

In this work, we have designed a mesoporous TiO2 nanobowl (NB) array with pore size, bowl size and film thickness being easily controllable by the sol-gel process and the polystyrene (PS) template diameter. Based on the TiO2 NB array, we fabricated carbon cathode based perovskite solar cells (C-PSCs) to investigate the impact of TiO2 NB nanostructures on the performance of the as-obtained C-PSCs devices. As expected, the TiO2 NB based devices show a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) than that of the planar counterpart, mainly due to the enhanced light absorption arising from the NB-assisted light management, the improved pore-filling of high quality perovskite crystals and the increased interface contact for rapid electron extraction and fast charge transport. Leveraging these advantages of the novel TiO2 NB film, the 220 nm-PS templated TiO2 NB based devices performed the best on both light absorption capability and charge extraction, and achieved a PCE up to 12.02% with good stability, which is 37% higher than that of the planar counterpart. These results point to a viable and convenient route toward the fabrication of TiO2 ETL nanostructures for high performance PSCs. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016.

Pyrite (FeS2) stands out from other metal sulfides due to its abundance, low toxicity and high specific energy density. However, the low utilization and short cycle life of FeS2 caused by irreversible side reactions and dramatic structural changes during charge/discharge process seriously hinders its practical application. In this work, we designed FeS2 nanochains to address these issues because this unique structure not only shortens the ion/electron diffusion distance, increases the electrode/electrolyte contact area, but also accommodates the strain associated with Li ion intercalation and deintercalation reactions. Compared with nanoparticles, the FeS2 nanochains synthesized by magnetic-field-assisted aerosol pyrolysis could cycle up to 800 cycles at 0.5C, remained a discharge capacity of 342.4 mA h g−1 in the voltage range of 1.0-2.6 V and achieved a remarkable capacity fading rate of 0.02% per cycle, which is among the best values demonstrated so far for Li/FeS2 cells. In-situ Raman experiments revealed that the irreversible side reactions could be suppressed through controlling the voltage window, which can be benefit for further improving the performance of Li/FeS2 cells.

This work explores the use of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) modified carbon nanotubes (CNTs@P3HT) for the cathodes of hole transporter free, mesoscopic perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) solar cells (PSCs), simultaneously achieving high-performance, high stability and low-cost PSCs. Here the thin P3HT modifier acts as an electron blocker to inhibit electron transfer into CNTs and a hydrophobic polymer binder to tightly cross-link the CNTs together to compact the carbon electrode film and greatly stabilize the solar cell. On the other hand, the presence of CNTs greatly improve the conductivity of P3HT. By optimizing the concentration of the P3HT modifier (2 mg/mL), we have improved the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of CNTs@P3HT based PSCs up to 13.43% with an average efficiency of 12.54%, which is much higher than the pure CNTs based PSCs (best PCE 10.59%) and the sandwich-type P3HT/CNTs based PSCs (best PCE 9.50%). In addition, the hysteresis of the CNTs@P3HT based PSCs is remarkably reduced due to the intimate interface between the perovskite and CNTs@P3HT electrodes. Degradation of the CNTs@ P3HT based PSCs is also strongly retarded as compared to cells employing the pure CNTs electrode when exposed to the ambient condition of 20%–40% humidity.

Trap states in semiconductors usually degrade charge separation and collection in photovoltaics due to trap-mediated nonradiative recombination. Here, it is found that perovskite can be heavily doped in low concentration with non-ignorable broadband infrared absorption in thick films and their trap states accumulate electrons through infrared excitation and hot carrier cooling. A hybrid one-sided abrupt perovskite/TiO2 p-N heterojunction is demonstrated that enables partial collection of these trap-filled charges through a tunneling process instead of detrimental recombination. The tunneling is from broadband trap states in the wide depleted p-type perovskite, across the barrier of the narrow depleted TiO2 region (<5 nm), to the N-type TiO2 electrode. The trap states inject carriers into TiO2 through tunneling and produce around-unity peak external quantum efficiency, giving rise to near-infrared photovoltaics. The near-infrared response allows photodetecting devices to work in both diode and conductor modes. This work opens a new avenue to explore the near-infrared application of hybrid perovskites.

Carbon-based hole transport material (HTM)-free perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have shown much promise for practical applications because of their high stability and low cost. However, the efficiencies of this kind of PSCs are still relatively low, especially for the simplest paintable carbon-based PSCs, in comparison with the organic HTM-based PSCs. This can be imputed to the perovskite deposition methods that are not very suitable for this kind of devices. A solvent engineering strategy based on two-step sequential method is exploited to prepare a high-quality perovskite layer for the paintable carbon-based PSCs in which the solvent for CH3NH3I (MAI) solution at the second step is changed from isopropanol (IPA) to a mixed solvent of IPA/Cyclohexane (CYHEX). This mixed solvent not only accelerates the conversion of Pbl2 to CH3NH3Pbl3 but also suppresses the Ostwald ripening process resulting in a high-quality perovskite layer, e.g., pure phase, even surface, and compact capping layer. The paintable carbon-based PSCs fabricated from IPA/CYHEX solvent exhibits a considerable enhancement in photovoltaic performance and performance reproducibility in comparison with that from pure IPA, especially on fill factor (FF), owing mainly to the better contact of perovskite/carbon interface, lower trap density in perovskite, higher light absorption ability, and faster charge transport of perovskite layer. As a result, the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.38% is obtained, which is a record value for carbon-based HTM-free PSCs. Furthermore, a PCE of as high as 10% is achieved for the large area device (1 cm2), also the highest of its kind.

Organic/inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted wide attention mainly due to the rapid rise in their power conversion efficiency (PCE), but their long-term stability is now becoming an even more important issue given that the active perovskite material is moisture sensitive. Herein we report a hole-transporter-free PSC based on a C + epoxy electrode that can serve as both a hole-selective extractor and a water-rejecting barrier. After boosting with a silver paint coating, the whole device is not only efficient at similar to 11% but also waterproof. When immersed in water, no performance degradation occurred at the first 80 min. More impressively, when the cell stability was investigated in some harsh environments, e.g., high humidity and 50 degrees C thermal stressing, nearly no performance degradation was observed within the testing time span.

The precursor of solution-processed perovskite thin films is one of the most central components for high-efficiency perovskite solar cells. We first present the crucial colloidal chemistry visualization of the perovskite precursor solution based on analytical spectra and reveal that perovskite precursor solutions for solar cells are generally colloidal dispersions in a mother solution, with a colloidal size up to the mesoscale, rather than real solutions. The colloid is made of a soft coordination complex in the form of a lead polyhalide framework between organic and inorganic components and can be structurally tuned by the coordination degree, thereby primarily determining the basic film coverage and morphology of deposited thin films. By utilizing coordination engineering, particularly through employing additional methylammonium halide over the stoichiometric ratio for tuning the coordination degree and mode in the initial colloidal solution, along with a thermal leaching for the selective release of excess methylammonium halides, we achieved full and even coverage, the preferential orientation, and high purity of planar perovskite thin films. We have also identified that excess organic component can reduce the colloidal size of and tune the morphology of the coordination framework in relation to final perovskite grains and partial chlorine substitution can accelerate the crystalline nucleation process of perovskite. This work demonstrates the important fundamental chemistry of perovskite precursors and provides genuine guidelines for accurately controlling the high quality of hybrid perovskite thin films without any impurity, thereby delivering efficient planar perovskite solar cells with a power conversion efficiency as high as 17% without distinct hysteresis owing to the high quality of perovskite thin films.

Hybrid organic/inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as a highly promising alternative renewable energy source because of their high efficiency and low-cost solution processable manufacturing technology. However, the commonly used spin coating process limits the large-scale manufacturing of perovskite layers for commercialization. Here we report on the development of an electrodeposition technique for fabricating perovskite layers and demonstrate its simplicity, versatility, scalability and roll-to-roll manufacturing compatibility. The key step is the electrodeposition of a PbO2 layer on TiO2 scaffold, which is then subjected to chemical bath conversion to sequentially generate PbI2 and CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite. Clearly demonstrated is the controllability of morphology and optical properties of the CH3NH3PbI3 layer, leading to a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) reproducibility and a higher average PCE when incorporated into carbon-based PSCs than with the spin coating technique. Remarkably, the cell area of electrodeposited PSCs could be easily scaled up to 4cm2 with an excellent perovskite film uniformity, rendering a PCE gain of 36.3% over the spin-coated counterpart. We further demonstrate the deposition of perovskite layers on complex shape substrates (e.g., stainless steel net), which would be rather difficult or impossible with other competing film deposition techniques. These results establish electrodeposition as a versatile and controllable route toward low-cost and large scalable manufacturing of high efficiency PSCs. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

We develop a dual porous (DP) TiO2 film for the electron transporting layer (ETL) in carbon cathode based perovskite solar cells (C-PSCs). The DP TiO2 film was synthesized via a facile PS-templated method with the thickness being controlled by the spin-coating speed. It was found that there is an optimum DP TiO2 film thickness for achieving an effective ETL, a suitable perovskite/TiO2 interface, an efficient light harvester and thus a high performance C-PSC. In particular, such a DP TiO2 film can act as a scaffold for complete-filling of the pores with perovskite and for forming high-quality perovskite crystals that are seamlessly interfaced with TiO2 to enhance interfacial charge injection. Leveraging the unique advantages of DP TiO2 ETL, together with a dense-packed and pinhole-free TiO2 compact layer, PCE of the C-PSCs has reached 9.81% with good stability. © 2015 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics.

Multilayered graphene and single-layered graphene are assembled onto perovskite films in the form of Schottky junctions and ohmic contacts, respectively, for the production of a graphene-based hole transporting material-free perovskite solar cell. Multilayered graphene extracts charge selectively and efficiently, delivering a higher efficiency of 11.5% than single-layered graphene (6.7%). © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Among the various perovskite solar cells, the carbon-based hole-transporter-free type is arguably the most promising for applications because of its low material/manufacturing cost, high efficiency and better long-termstability. However, the fill factor (FF) is typically below 0.75, limiting the cell performance. In this communication, through a comparison of systematic performance between the multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and another two representative carbon materials, namely carbon black and graphite, we highlight two salient advantages of MWCNT-based devices: high FF and hysteresis-free performance. We owe the superior performance to the charge transport highway at the interface of MWCNT/perovskite. After preliminary optimization, we have achieved a PCE of 12.67% with a very impressive FF of 0.80, which is among the highest for carbon-based perovskite solar cells.

Organic/inorganic perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3, CH3NH3PbIxCl3-x) solar cells have emerged as a highly promising alternative renewable energy source because of their high efficiency and low-cost solution processable manufacturing processes. However, current perovskite solar cells typically require an expensive and air sensitive hole transporter material (HTM, e.g., spiro-MeOTAD) and a noble metal electrode (Au or Ag) deposited by complicated vacuum technology. These drawbacks, if not adequately addressed, will hinder the industrial development and market potential of perovskite solar cells. Therefore, it is highly desirable to study and develop alternative materials and processes that show high performance but are inexpensive, earth-abundant, stable, environmentally friendly, easily processable and energy non-intensive. My thesis is focused on the understanding and the development of nanocarbon-based HTM-free perovskite solar cells. The thesis is divided into 7 chapters. Chapter 1 surveys the current literature and outlines the motivation and objectives of my thesis. Chapter 2 introduces experimental techniques used in my experiments. Major findings of the study are presented and discussed from Chapters 3 to 6, with conclusions and outlooks summarized in Chapter 7. In chapter 3, I report a new modality of perovskite solar cells that do away with the use of conventional HTMs by directly clamping a selective hole extraction electrode made of candle soot and a deliberately engineered perovskite photoanode. Three generations of clamping solar cells were evolved from direct clamping to rolling-transfer clamping and to chemically promote clamping accelerated by the mechanistic understanding of inner workings. Up to this stage, the third generation clamping solar cells have already achieved a remarkable efficiency of 11.02% and good long term stability. The key soot/perovskite interface, which

Multilayered graphene and single-layered graphene are assembled onto perovskite films in the form of Schottky junctions and ohmic contacts, respectively, for the production of a graphene-based hole transporting material-free perovskite solar cell. Multilayered graphene extracts charge selectively and efficiently, delivering a higher efficiency of 11.5% than single-layered graphene (6.7%). © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

We develop a dual porous (DP) TiO2 film for the electron transporting layer (ETL) in carbon cathode based perovskite solar cells (C-PSCs). The DP TiO2 film was synthesized via a facile PS-templated method with the thickness being controlled by the spin-coating speed. It was found that there is an optimum DP TiO2 film thickness for achieving an effective ETL, a suitable perovskite/TiO2 interface, an efficient light harvester and thus a high performance C-PSC. In particular, such a DP TiO2 film can act as a scaffold for complete-filling of the pores with perovskite and for forming high-quality perovskite crystals that are seamlessly interfaced with TiO2 to enhance interfacial charge injection. Leveraging the unique advantages of DP TiO2 ETL, together with a dense-packed and pinhole-free TiO2 compact layer, PCE of the C-PSCs has reached 9.81% with good stability. © 2015 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics.

Hybrid organic/inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as a highly promising alternative renewable energy source because of their high efficiency and low-cost solution processable manufacturing technology. However, the commonly used spin coating process limits the large-scale manufacturing of perovskite layers for commercialization. Here we report on the development of an electrodeposition technique for fabricating perovskite layers and demonstrate its simplicity, versatility, scalability and roll-to-roll manufacturing compatibility. The key step is the electrodeposition of a PbO2 layer on TiO2 scaffold, which is then subjected to chemical bath conversion to sequentially generate PbI2 and CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite. Clearly demonstrated is the controllability of morphology and optical properties of the CH3NH3PbI3 layer, leading to a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) reproducibility and a higher average PCE when incorporated into carbon-based PSCs than with the spin coating technique. Remarkably, the cell area of electrodeposited PSCs could be easily scaled up to 4cm2 with an excellent perovskite film uniformity, rendering a PCE gain of 36.3% over the spin-coated counterpart. We further demonstrate the deposition of perovskite layers on complex shape substrates (e.g., stainless steel net), which would be rather difficult or impossible with other competing film deposition techniques. These results establish electrodeposition as a versatile and controllable route toward low-cost and large scalable manufacturing of high efficiency PSCs. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

Among the various perovskite solar cells, the carbon-based hole-transporter-free type is arguably the most promising for applications because of its low material/manufacturing cost, high efficiency and better long-termstability. However, the fill factor (FF) is typically below 0.75, limiting the cell performance. In this communication, through a comparison of systematic performance between the multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and another two representative carbon materials, namely carbon black and graphite, we highlight two salient advantages of MWCNT-based devices: high FF and hysteresis-free performance. We owe the superior performance to the charge transport highway at the interface of MWCNT/perovskite. After preliminary optimization, we have achieved a PCE of 12.67% with a very impressive FF of 0.80, which is among the highest for carbon-based perovskite solar cells.

The precursor of solution-processed perovskite thin films is one of the most central components for high-efficiency perovskite solar cells. We first present the crucial colloidal chemistry visualization of the perovskite precursor solution based on analytical spectra and reveal that perovskite precursor solutions for solar cells are generally colloidal dispersions in a mother solution, with a colloidal size up to the mesoscale, rather than real solutions. The colloid is made of a soft coordination complex in the form of a lead polyhalide framework between organic and inorganic components and can be structurally tuned by the coordination degree, thereby primarily determining the basic film coverage and morphology of deposited thin films. By utilizing coordination engineering, particularly through employing additional methylammonium halide over the stoichiometric ratio for tuning the coordination degree and mode in the initial colloidal solution, along with a thermal leaching for the selective release of excess methylammonium halides, we achieved full and even coverage, the preferential orientation, and high purity of planar perovskite thin films. We have also identified that excess organic component can reduce the colloidal size of and tune the morphology of the coordination framework in relation to final perovskite grains and partial chlorine substitution can accelerate the crystalline nucleation process of perovskite. This work demonstrates the important fundamental chemistry of perovskite precursors and provides genuine guidelines for accurately controlling the high quality of hybrid perovskite thin films without any impurity, thereby delivering efficient planar perovskite solar cells with a power conversion efficiency as high as 17% without distinct hysteresis owing to the high quality of perovskite thin films.

Organic/inorganic perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3, CH3NH3PbIxCl3-x) solar cells have emerged as a highly promising alternative renewable energy source because of their high efficiency and low-cost solution processable manufacturing processes. However, current perovskite solar cells typically require an expensive and air sensitive hole transporter material (HTM, e.g., spiro-MeOTAD) and a noble metal electrode (Au or Ag) deposited by complicated vacuum technology. These drawbacks, if not adequately addressed, will hinder the industrial development and market potential of perovskite solar cells. Therefore, it is highly desirable to study and develop alternative materials and processes that show high performance but are inexpensive, earth-abundant, stable, environmentally friendly, easily processable and energy non-intensive. My thesis is focused on the understanding and the development of nanocarbon-based HTM-free perovskite solar cells. The thesis is divided into 7 chapters. Chapter 1 surveys the current literature and outlines the motivation and objectives of my thesis. Chapter 2 introduces experimental techniques used in my experiments. Major findings of the study are presented and discussed from Chapters 3 to 6, with conclusions and outlooks summarized in Chapter 7. In chapter 3, I report a new modality of perovskite solar cells that do away with the use of conventional HTMs by directly clamping a selective hole extraction electrode made of candle soot and a deliberately engineered perovskite photoanode. Three generations of clamping solar cells were evolved from direct clamping to rolling-transfer clamping and to chemically promote clamping accelerated by the mechanistic understanding of inner workings. Up to this stage, the third generation clamping solar cells have already achieved a remarkable efficiency of 11.02% and good long term stability. The key soot/perovskite interface, which

Multilayered graphene and single-layered graphene are assembled onto perovskite films in the form of Schottky junctions and ohmic contacts, respectively, for the production of a graphene-based hole transporting material-free perovskite solar cell. Multilayered graphene extracts charge selectively and efficiently, delivering a higher efficiency of 11.5% than single-layered graphene (6.7%). © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Organic/inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted wide attention mainly due to the rapid rise in their power conversion efficiency (PCE), but their long-term stability is now becoming an even more important issue given that the active perovskite material is moisture sensitive. Herein we report a hole-transporter-free PSC based on a C + epoxy electrode that can serve as both a hole-selective extractor and a water-rejecting barrier. After boosting with a silver paint coating, the whole device is not only efficient at similar to 11% but also waterproof. When immersed in water, no performance degradation occurred at the first 80 min. More impressively, when the cell stability was investigated in some harsh environments, e.g., high humidity and 50 degrees C thermal stressing, nearly no performance degradation was observed within the testing time span.

Among the various perovskite solar cells, the carbon-based hole-transporter-free type is arguably the most promising for applications because of its low material/manufacturing cost, high efficiency and better long-termstability. However, the fill factor (FF) is typically below 0.75, limiting the cell performance. In this communication, through a comparison of systematic performance between the multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and another two representative carbon materials, namely carbon black and graphite, we highlight two salient advantages of MWCNT-based devices: high FF and hysteresis-free performance. We owe the superior performance to the charge transport highway at the interface of MWCNT/perovskite. After preliminary optimization, we have achieved a PCE of 12.67% with a very impressive FF of 0.80, which is among the highest for carbon-based perovskite solar cells.

We develop a dual porous (DP) TiO2 film for the electron transporting layer (ETL) in carbon cathode based perovskite solar cells (C-PSCs). The DP TiO2 film was synthesized via a facile PS-templated method with the thickness being controlled by the spin-coating speed. It was found that there is an optimum DP TiO2 film thickness for achieving an effective ETL, a suitable perovskite/TiO2 interface, an efficient light harvester and thus a high performance C-PSC. In particular, such a DP TiO2 film can act as a scaffold for complete-filling of the pores with perovskite and for forming high-quality perovskite crystals that are seamlessly interfaced with TiO2 to enhance interfacial charge injection. Leveraging the unique advantages of DP TiO2 ETL, together with a dense-packed and pinhole-free TiO2 compact layer, PCE of the C-PSCs has reached 9.81% with good stability. © 2015 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics.

Hybrid organic/inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as a highly promising alternative renewable energy source because of their high efficiency and low-cost solution processable manufacturing technology. However, the commonly used spin coating process limits the large-scale manufacturing of perovskite layers for commercialization. Here we report on the development of an electrodeposition technique for fabricating perovskite layers and demonstrate its simplicity, versatility, scalability and roll-to-roll manufacturing compatibility. The key step is the electrodeposition of a PbO2 layer on TiO2 scaffold, which is then subjected to chemical bath conversion to sequentially generate PbI2 and CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite. Clearly demonstrated is the controllability of morphology and optical properties of the CH3NH3PbI3 layer, leading to a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) reproducibility and a higher average PCE when incorporated into carbon-based PSCs than with the spin coating technique. Remarkably, the cell area of electrodeposited PSCs could be easily scaled up to 4cm2 with an excellent perovskite film uniformity, rendering a PCE gain of 36.3% over the spin-coated counterpart. We further demonstrate the deposition of perovskite layers on complex shape substrates (e.g., stainless steel net), which would be rather difficult or impossible with other competing film deposition techniques. These results establish electrodeposition as a versatile and controllable route toward low-cost and large scalable manufacturing of high efficiency PSCs. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

The precursor of solution-processed perovskite thin films is one of the most central components for high-efficiency perovskite solar cells. We first present the crucial colloidal chemistry visualization of the perovskite precursor solution based on analytical spectra and reveal that perovskite precursor solutions for solar cells are generally colloidal dispersions in a mother solution, with a colloidal size up to the mesoscale, rather than real solutions. The colloid is made of a soft coordination complex in the form of a lead polyhalide framework between organic and inorganic components and can be structurally tuned by the coordination degree, thereby primarily determining the basic film coverage and morphology of deposited thin films. By utilizing coordination engineering, particularly through employing additional methylammonium halide over the stoichiometric ratio for tuning the coordination degree and mode in the initial colloidal solution, along with a thermal leaching for the selective release of excess methylammonium halides, we achieved full and even coverage, the preferential orientation, and high purity of planar perovskite thin films. We have also identified that excess organic component can reduce the colloidal size of and tune the morphology of the coordination framework in relation to final perovskite grains and partial chlorine substitution can accelerate the crystalline nucleation process of perovskite. This work demonstrates the important fundamental chemistry of perovskite precursors and provides genuine guidelines for accurately controlling the high quality of hybrid perovskite thin films without any impurity, thereby delivering efficient planar perovskite solar cells with a power conversion efficiency as high as 17% without distinct hysteresis owing to the high quality of perovskite thin films.

Organic/inorganic perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3, CH3NH3PbIxCl3-x) solar cells have emerged as a highly promising alternative renewable energy source because of their high efficiency and low-cost solution processable manufacturing processes. However, current perovskite solar cells typically require an expensive and air sensitive hole transporter material (HTM, e.g., spiro-MeOTAD) and a noble metal electrode (Au or Ag) deposited by complicated vacuum technology. These drawbacks, if not adequately addressed, will hinder the industrial development and market potential of perovskite solar cells. Therefore, it is highly desirable to study and develop alternative materials and processes that show high performance but are inexpensive, earth-abundant, stable, environmentally friendly, easily processable and energy non-intensive. My thesis is focused on the understanding and the development of nanocarbon-based HTM-free perovskite solar cells. The thesis is divided into 7 chapters. Chapter 1 surveys the current literature and outlines the motivation and objectives of my thesis. Chapter 2 introduces experimental techniques used in my experiments. Major findings of the study are presented and discussed from Chapters 3 to 6, with conclusions and outlooks summarized in Chapter 7. In chapter 3, I report a new modality of perovskite solar cells that do away with the use of conventional HTMs by directly clamping a selective hole extraction electrode made of candle soot and a deliberately engineered perovskite photoanode. Three generations of clamping solar cells were evolved from direct clamping to rolling-transfer clamping and to chemically promote clamping accelerated by the mechanistic understanding of inner workings. Up to this stage, the third generation clamping solar cells have already achieved a remarkable efficiency of 11.02% and good long term stability. The key soot/perovskite interface, which

Hybrid organic/inorganic perovskite solar cells are attracting intense attention and further developments largely hinge on understanding the fundamental issues involved in the cell operation. In this paper, a liquid phase deposition (LPD) method is developed to design and grow a TiO2 nanolayer at room temperature for carbon-based perovskite solar cells. The TiO2 nanolayer grown on FTO glass is compact but polycrystalline consisting of tiny anatase TiO2 nanocrystals intimately stacked together. By directly exploiting this TiO2 nanolayer in a solar cell of TiO2 nanolayer/CH3NH3PbI3/nanocarbon, we have achieved a V-oc as high as 1.07 V, the highest value reported so far for hole transporter-free CH3NH3PbI3 solar cells. This is rationalized by the slower electron injection and longer electron lifetime due to the TiO2 nanolayer, which enhances the electron accumulation in CH3NH3PbI3 and consequently the V-oc. By employing a rutile TiO2 nanorod (NR) array as a base structure for the LPD-TiO2 nanolayer to support the CH3NH3PbI3 layer, the photocurrent density is considerably increased without obviously compromising the V-oc (1.01 V). As a result, the power conversion efficiency is boosted from 3.67% to 8.61%. More elaborate engineering of the TiO2 nanolayer by LPD in conjunction with judicious interfacing with other components has the potential to achieve higher performances for this type of solar cell.

Single-crystalline and branched 1D arrays, ZnO nanowires/nanodisks (NWs/NDs) arrays, are fabricated to significantly enhance the performance of photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. The epitaxial growth of the ZnO NDs with large exposed polar facets on ZnO NWs exhibits a laminated structure, which dramatically increases the light scattering capacity of the NWs arrays, especially in the wavelength region around 400 nm. The ND branching of the 1D arrays in the epitaxial fashion not only increase surface area and light utilization, but also support fast charge transport, leading to the considerable increase of photocurrent. Moreover, the tiny size NDs can facilitate charge separation and reduce charge recombination, while the large exposed polar facets of NDs reduce the external potential bias needed for water splitting. These advantages land the ZnO NWs/NDs arrays a four times higher power conversion efficiency than the ZnO NWs arrays. By sensitizing the ZnO NWs/NDs with CdS and CdSe quantum dots, the PEC performance can be further improved. This work advocates a trunk/leaf in forest concept for the single-crystalline NWs/NDs in array with enlarged exposure of polar facets, which opens the way for optimizing light harvesting and charge separation and transport, and thus the PEC water splitting.

A planar perovskite solar cell that incorporates a nanocarbon hole-extraction layer is demonstrated for the first time by an inkjet printing technique with a precisely controlled pattern and interface. By designing the carbon plus CH3NH3I ink to transform PbI2 in situ to CH3NH3PbI3, an interpenetrating seamless interface between the CH3NH3PbI3 active layer and the carbon hole-extraction electrode was instantly constructed, with a markedly reduced charge recombination compared to that with the carbon ink alone. As a result, a considerably higher power conversion efficiency up to 11.60% was delivered by the corresponding solar cell. This method provides a major step towards the fabrication of low-cost, large-scale, metal-electrode-free but still highly efficient perovskite solar cells.

A three-dimensional (3D) conductive network as the current collector is critical to enabling high-performance power sources because it not only provides a highly electrolytic accessible area of electroactive materials, but also facilitates electron and electrolyte ion transport. Here, we design a facile method to construct a secondary porous Ni structure (SPNi) on the surface of Ni foam. The SPNi-Ni scaffold can increase the loading of active materials and facilitate transportation of electrons and electrolyte ions. As a demonstration, after depositing Co(OH)2 active material, it can deliver much higher area-specific capacitance of 11.91F/cm2 at a current density of 10mAcm-2 and cyclic stability (~16% loss after 1000 cycles) than those on the bare Ni foam under the identical current density (3.57Fcm-2, ~30% loss after 1000 cycles). The results establish that the bicontinuously 3D porous scaffold is a promising candidate for building up high performance energy storage devices.

Introducing oxygen vacancies (V-O) into TiO2 materials is one of the most promising ways to significantly enhance light-harvesting and photocatalytic efficiencies of photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells for water splitting among others. However, the nature of electron transport in V-O-TiO2 nanostructures is not well understood, especially in an operating device. In this work, we use the intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy technique to study the electron-transport property of V-O-TiO2 nanowires (NWs). It is found that the electron transport in pristine TiO2 NWs displays a single trap-limited mode, whereas two electron-transport modes were detected in V-O-TiO2 NWs, a trap-free transport mode at the core, and a trap-limited transport mode near the surface. The considerably higher diffusion coefficient (D-n) of the trap-free transport mode grants a more rapid electron flow in V-O-TiO2 NWs than that in pristine TiO2 NWs. This electron-transport feature is expected to be common in other oxygen-deficient metal oxides, lending a general strategy for promoting the PEC device performance.