A donor-acceptor (D-A) type indoline dye, D149, was used as an electron donor in solution-processed organic solar cells (OSCs). For bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) type OSCs with PC70BM as electron acceptor, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) is sensitive to the amount of D149 in the D149/PC70BM blend film. When the concentration of D149 in the blend film was as low as 5%, the highest PCE of up to...

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been rapidly developed and exhibit comparable power conversion efficiency (PCE) to silicon cells.

A solution filling and drying method has been demonstrated to fabricate Si/PEDOT:PSS core/shell nanowire arrays for hybrid solar cells. The hybrid core/shell nanowire arrays show excellent broadband anti-reflection, and resulting hybrid solar cells absorb about 88% of AM 1.5G photons in the 300–1100 nm range. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the hybrid solar cell reaches 6.35%, and is p...

We elaborated a new electrolyte composition, based on butyronitrile solvent, that exhibits low volatility for use in dye-sensitized solar cells. The strong point of this new class of electrolyte is that it combines high efficiency and excellent stability properties, while having all the physical characteristics needed to pass the IEC 61646 stability test protocol. In this work, we also reveal a...

New alcohol-soluble conjugated small molecule electrolytes (CSMEs), 3,6-bis-(5-benzoic acid-thiophen-2-yl)-2,5-bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-2,5-dihydro-pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,4-dione liquid crystalline (DPP-COOH) and di-tetrabutylammonium cis-bis(isothiocyanato)bis(2,2'-bipyridyl-4,4'-dicarboxylato)ruthenium(II) dye (N719), are developed as interfacial modification in inverted polymer solar cells (PSCs)...

Polymer solar cells (PSCs), with poly(diketopyrrolopyrrole-terthiophene) (PDPP3T):[6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) as the active layers, were fabricated using solutions of different temperatures. The best power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the PSCs prepared using a hot solution was about 6.22%, which is better than 5.54% for PSCs prepared using cool (room temperature) solut...

An efficient light trapping scheme is a key to enhancing the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of thin-film photovoltaic (PV) cells by compensating for the insufficient light absorption. To handle optical components from nano-scale to micro-scale seamlessly, a multi-scale optical simulation is carefully designed in this study and is used to qualitatively analyze the light trapping performances ...

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have highly desirable attributes for solution-processable thin-film photovoltaics (TFPVs), such as broadband absorption, high carrier mobility, and environmental stability. However, previous TFPVs incorporating photoactive SWCNTs have utilized architectures that have limited current, voltage, and ultimately power conversion efficiency (PCE). Here, we repo...

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) were developed in 2009 and have led to a number of significant improvements in clean energy technology. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of PSCs has increased exponentially and currently stands at 22%. PSCs are transforming photovoltaic (PV) technology, outpacing many established PV technologies through their versatility and roll-to-roll manufacturing compatib...