Solar energy and photovoltaic technology articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Waterproof flexible organic solar cells without compromising mechanical flexibility and conformability remains challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate in-situ growth of hole-transporting layer to strengthen interfacial and thermodynamic adhesion for better waterproofness in 3 μm-thick devices.

    • Sixing Xiong
    • , Kenjiro Fukuda
    •  & Takao Someya

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Due to the adjustable bandgap, flexibility, absence of heavy metals and high power per weight, organic laser converters have unique advantages in wireless power transfer. Here, authors integrate organic laser power converters exhibiting efficiency over 36% at 660 nm with photon flux of 9.5 mW/cm2.

    • Yafei Wang
    • , Zhong Zheng
    •  & Jianhui Hou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The superstate configuration in all-perovskite tandem solar cells is disadvantageous for long-term stability. Here, the authors reverse the processing order and demonstrate substrate configuration to bury oxidizable narrow-bandgap perovskites, and achieve efficiency of 25.3% with long stability.

    • Yurui Wang
    • , Renxing Lin
    •  & Hairen Tan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Charge dynamics in perovskite is not well-understood, limited by the knowledge of defect physics and charge recombination mechanism, yet the ABC and SRH models are widely used. Here, the authors introduce advanced PLQY mapping as function of excitation pulse energy and repetition frequency to examine the validity of these models.

    • Alexander Kiligaridis
    • , Pavel A. Frantsuzov
    •  & Ivan G. Scheblykin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Performance of perovskite photovoltaics is greatly affected by undesirable defects that contribute to non-radiative losses. Here, the authors mitigate these losses by doping perovskite with KI to alter the dielectric response, thus defect capturing probability, resulting in inverted device with PCE of 22.3% and low voltage loss.

    • Rui Su
    • , Zhaojian Xu
    •  & Rui Zhu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A theoretical framework to optimize photonic structure designs for upconversion enhancement is lacking. Here, the authors present a comprehensive theoretical model and confirm the model’s predictions by experimental realisation of 1D-photonic upconverter devices with large statistics and parameter scans.

    • Clarissa L. M. Hofmann
    • , Stefan Fischer
    •  & Jan Christoph Goldschmidt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Defects in perovskite affect the properties and performance in optoelectronic devices, yet the nature of ionic defects remains elusive. Here, the authors investigate the ionic defect landscape in perovskite introduced by varying precursor stoichiometry, and find the defects fulfill the Meyer-Neldel rule.

    • Sebastian Reichert
    • , Qingzhi An
    •  & Carsten Deibel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The electronic and photonic contributions to the power conversion efficiency in solar cell devices are often hard to disentangle. Here Bercegol et al. develop a purely optical method to quantitatively decouple and assess the electronic and photonic processes in halide perovskite solar cells.

    • Adrien Bercegol
    • , Daniel Ory
    •  & Laurent Lombez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In photovoltaics, sub-band gap energy photons can be harvested using up-conversion strategies. Here, the authors show that the thermally enhanced up-converted photoluminescence results in enhanced energy conversion, for an accessible temperature range and with a broad range of incident photon energy.

    • Assaf Manor
    • , Nimrod Kruger
    •  & Carmel Rotschild

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In photovoltaics window electrodes must display uniform current transport, as well as high light transmission from the substrate. Here, Han et al.show that quasi-fractal metallic networks provide a practical realization of an electrode structure with an optimal surface coverage and a uniform current density.

    • Bing Han
    • , Qiang Peng
    •  & Jinwei Gao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In organic photovoltaics, the best performing devices usually involve low-bandgap polymers whose limited solubility and stability constrain the scalability of organic solar cells. Here, Holliday et al. develop a new acceptor and pair it with canonical P3HT to obtain 6.4% efficient and stable devices.

    • Sarah Holliday
    • , Raja Shahid Ashraf
    •  & Iain McCulloch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The photophysics of lead halide perovskites is under intense investigation. Here, the authors use force microscopy on single crystals to show that light induces drastic lattice changes, and propose that the weakening of the hydrogen coupling under illumination is responsible for the lattice dilatation.

    • Yang Zhou
    • , Lu You
    •  & Junling Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spontaneous polarization in ferroelectric materials leads to their use as photovoltaic devices. Here, the authors show by first-principles calculations how nanolayering of PbTiO3with nickel ions and oxygen vacancies can result in enhanced photocurrents due to smaller bandgaps and photocurrent alignment.

    • Fenggong Wang
    • , Steve M. Young
    •  & Andrew M. Rappe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lead halide perovskite solar cells have a limited spectral response in the near infrared. Here, the authors present ruthenium dyes with extended near infrared absorbance and combine perovskite and dye-based solar cells by spectral splitting to obtain broadband, 21.5% efficient solar cells.

    • Takumi Kinoshita
    • , Kazuteru Nonomura
    •  & Hiroshi Segawa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The efficiency of a single-junction photovoltaic cell is constrained by the Shockley-Queisser limit. Here, the authors adopt a triple-junction configuration which relaxes material and current-matching constraints, providing a generic strategy for advancing the efficiency roadmap of photovoltaic technologies.

    • Fei Guo
    • , Ning Li
    •  & Christoph J. Brabec

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plasmonic excitations of electrons in metallic nanostructures are promising for the enhanced conversion of light in semiconductor solar cells. Here, the authors are able to experimentally distinguish the absorption phenomena of plasmonic carrier generation and excitation of carriers by light absorption.

    • Bob Y. Zheng
    • , Hangqi Zhao
    •  & Naomi J. Halas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hybrid organic–inorganic perovskites have shown great potential for use in optoelectronic applications. Here, the authors create solution-processed lead iodide perovskite light-emitting field-effect transistors and demonstrate both ambipolar behaviour and gate-assisted electroluminescence.

    • Xin Yu Chin
    • , Daniele Cortecchia
    •  & Cesare Soci

  • Article |

    Phase-change materials are a route to high-density data storage, but changes in their properties in time are a limiting factor. Here, the authors combine numerical simulations, photothermal deflection spectroscopy and impedance spectroscopy experiments to investigate the aging process in germanium telluride.

    • Jean Yves Raty
    • , Wei Zhang
    •  & Matthias Wuttig

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the mechanism of ionic transport in organic–inorganic halide perovskites is crucial for the design of future solar cells. Here, Eames et al.undertake a combined experimental and computational study to elucidate the ion conducting species and help rationalize the unusual behaviour observed in these perovskite-based devices.

    • Christopher Eames
    • , Jarvist M. Frost
    •  & M. Saiful Islam

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Water splitting using earth-abundant materials promises a low cost solution to the problem of large scale energy storage. Here, the authors fabricate a haematite and silicon-based high-efficiency water splitting device, which operates without the need for an externally applied bias.

    • Ji-Wook Jang
    • , Chun Du
    •  & Dunwei Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Artificial photosynthesis is a means of harnessing solar energy to generate fuels but has traditionally been exploited for the generation of hydrogen. Here, Schreier et al. instead employ a perovskite photovoltaic device to effect the solar conversion of CO2to CO with high efficiency.

    • Marcel Schreier
    • , Laura Curvat
    •  & Michael Grätzel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metal halide perovskites are promising for solar energy harvesting, but currently prone to a large hysteresis and current instability. Here, Xu et al. show improvements in a hybrid material in which the fullerene is distributed at perovskite grain boundaries and thus passivates defects effectively.

    • Jixian Xu
    • , Andrei Buin
    •  & Edward H. Sargent

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fitting current–voltage curves of organic solar cells with the Shockley equation often results in artificially high ideality factors. Here, the authors analyse inadequacy of the equation and propose an analytic model, which allows prediction of the efficiency potentials by explicit consideration of charge-carrier mobilities.

    • Uli Würfel
    • , Dieter Neher
    •  & Steve Albrecht

  • Article |

    Lead halide perovskite solar cells use hole-blocking layers to allow a separate collection of positive and negative charge carriers and to achieve high-operation voltages. Here, the authors demonstrate efficient lead halide perovskite solar cells that avoid using this extra layer.

    • Weijun Ke
    • , Guojia Fang
    •  & Yanfa Yan

  • Article |

    An important source of loss in solar cells is the recombination of the photogenerated charge carriers before they are extracted from the device. Chang et al. now show that such recombination can be reduced in organic solar cells by increasing the separation between donors and acceptors.

    • Wendi Chang
    • , Daniel N. Congreve
    •  & Marc A. Baldo

  • Article |

    Ultrathin film photovoltaic cells are a promising energy device, but suffer from low power conversion efficiency. Here, the authors construct a double-junction tandem cell using a hydrogenated amorphous silicon and a polymer as the front and back cell, respectively, which achieves 10.5% efficiency.

    • Jeehwan Kim
    • , Ziruo Hong
    •  & Yang Yang

  • Article |

    Concentrating photovoltaics (PVs) offer a route to lower the cost of solar power, but their scale has been incompatible with roof top installation. Here, Price et al.demonstrate quasi-static concentrating PVs that achieve >200 × flux concentration over a full day in the form factor of a standard PV panel.

    • Jared S. Price
    • , Xing Sheng
    •  & Noel C. Giebink

  • Article |

    Halide perovskites are widely studied as components in photovoltaic cells. Here, the authors show that these materials also possess a tunable ferroelectric polarization as well as relativistic spin-splitting effects suggesting additional functionalities, for example, as spintronic and optoelectronic devices.

    • Alessandro Stroppa
    • , Domenico Di Sante
    •  & Silvia Picozzi

  • Article |

    Efficiency and stability are two major concerns in polymer-based solar cell development. Here Kong et al.report that the lifetime of a bulk heterojunction polymer can be improved by removing its low-molecular-weight components, which leads to a substantially reduced burn-in loss under photo-aging conditions.

    • Jaemin Kong
    • , Suhee Song
    •  & Kwanghee Lee

  • Article |

    Ambipolar transport, necessary to realise PN-junctions, is unfortunately missing from most two-dimensional semiconductors. Here, the authors fabricate few-layer black phosphorous field-effect transistors, define PN-junctions and demonstrate full electrostatic control of the device by means of local gating.

    • Michele Buscema
    • , Dirk J. Groenendijk
    •  & Andres Castellanos-Gomez

  • Article |

    The thermalization of high-energy photons limits the efficient conversion of photon energy in photovoltaic applications. Here, Saeed et al. consider optical extraction of the excess energy of hot carriers by emission of infrared photons, using erbium ions in combination with silicon nanocrystals.

    • S. Saeed
    • , E. M. L. D. de Jong
    •  & T. Gregorkiewicz

  • Article |

    Steam generation from solar energy is currently inefficient because of costly high optical concentration and large heat losses involved. Ghasemi et al. develop an efficient approach with internal efficiency up to 85% at low water temperature using a carbon-based material with a double-layer structure.

    • Hadi Ghasemi
    • , George Ni
    •  & Gang Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Carrier multiplication can improve the performance of solar cells, but its efficiency is still not high enough to considerably increase the power output of practical devices. Cirloganu et al.show that appropriately designed core-shell quantum dots can enhance the carrier multiplication yield four-fold.

    • Claudiu M. Cirloganu
    • , Lazaro A. Padilha
    •  & Victor I. Klimov

  • Article |

    The performance of perovskite-based solar cells has improved dramatically in recent years, yet surprisingly little is known about the details of how they work. Grancini et al. report results that suggest that their behaviour is dominated by the transport of free carriers rather than excitons.

    • Valerio D’Innocenzo
    • , Giulia Grancini
    •  & Annamaria Petrozza

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