Abstract Piezoelectric energy harvesting (PEH) interfaces have been widely investigated during the last decades in order to maximize harvested power. Among extraction circuits proposed literature, some of most effective ones consist extracting electric charges from piezoelectric elements a synchronous way with vibrations and within very short portion vibration period (SECE, SECPE, FTSECE, etc.)...

Nanobean SnO2-embedded TiO2 hollow submicrospheres are presented as a scattering layer for the first time in dye-sensitized solar cells. This designed mesoporous submicrostructure simultaneously promotes dye adsorption, light harvesting, and electron transport, leading to 28% improvement in the conversion efficiency compared to film-based SnO2.

A seeded heteroepitaxial growth of ZnO nanorods selectively on TiO(2) nanorod tips was achieved by restricting crystal growth on highly hydrophobic TiO(2) nanorod film surfaces. Intriguing light harvesting performance and efficient charge transport efficiency has been found, which suggest potential applications in photovoltaics and optoelectronics.

Two novel metal-free organic dyes containing thienothiophene and thiophene segments have been synthesized. Nano-crystalline TiO2 dye-sensitized solar cells were fabricated using these dyes as light-harvesting sensitizers, and a high solar energy-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 6.23% was achieved.

A novel rear reflector structure that combines NIR light harvesting β-NaGdF4:Yb, Er, Fe upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) and light reflecting silver particles has been successfully used to improve the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The power conversion efficiency of DSSCs with a rear reflector was 7.04%, which is an increase of 21.3% compared to the cell without a rear ref...

A novel polymer donor (PBDTS-Se) is designed to match with a non-fullerene acceptor (SdiPBI-S). The corresponding solar cells show a high efficiency of 8.22%, which result from synergetic improvements of light harvesting, charge carrier transport and collection, and morphology. The results indicate that rational design of novel donor materials is important for non-fullerene organic solar cells.

Kim et al (Reports, 28 April 2017, p. 430) presented results for the solar-driven harvesting of water from air via metal-organic frameworks as a prodigious potential advance toward remedying global water shortages. Basic thermodynamics and a survey of multiple off-the-shelf technologies show that their approach is vastly inferior in efficiency (and thereby in feasibility) to available alternati...

A new series of neutral, thiocyanate-free Ru(II) sensitizers (TFRS-1-3), which are assembled using both 4,4'-carboxy-2,2'-bypyridine and 2-pyridyl pyrazolate ancillaries, exhibit a light-harvesting capability up to 700 nm and superior DSSC performance in conversion efficiency (eta = 9.54% for TFRS-2).

We have systematically investigated the effects of surface modification of titania TiO2 in hybrid TiO2/ regioregular poly 3-hexylthiophene P3HT photovoltaic cells. By employing a series of para-substituted benzoic acids with varying dipoles and a series of multiply substituted benzene carboxylic acids, the energy offset at the TiO2/polymer interface and thus the open-circuit voltage of devices ...