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In this study, the graphene oxide (GO)-TiO2 nanocomposite film prepared by the sol–gel method was used to optimize the photoelectric performance of the perovskite solar cells (PSCs), which structure is based on the carbon electrode and no hole transport layer. Through a series of scientific experiments, it has been proved that the GO–TiO2 nanocomposite film has excellent electrical properties. The electron transport layer which containing 1 wt% of GO makes the PSCs have the most excellent performance. Compared with the controlling PSCs, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of PSCs, which containing 1 wt% GO, increased by 9.3%, from 12.44 to 13.60%. Short-circuit current density (Jsc) increased by 5.99%, from 21.55 to 22.84 mA/cm2, and open circuit voltage remained basically unchanged. It can be seen from the measurement results that the trend of incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency spectrum is consistent with J–V characteristics, indicating that the PSCs device containing 1 wt% GO has the best electron extraction and transfer performance. However, when too much GO is used, the increased surface charge trap state will lead to the acceleration of carrier recombination and the decrease of electron transport path, and the photovoltaic parameters show a downward trend.

In this work, inorganic tin-doped perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) are incorporated into carbon-based perovskite solar cells (PSCs) to improve their photovoltaic performance. On the one hand, by controlling the content of Sn2+ doping, the energy level of the tin-doped PQDs can be adjusted, to realize optimized band alignment and enhanced separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. On the other hand, the incorporation of tin-doped PQDs provided with a relatively high acceptor concentration due to the self-p-type doping effect is able to reduce the width of the depletion region near the back surface of the perovskite, thereby enhancing the hole extraction. Particularly, after the addition of CsSn0.2Pb0.8I3 quantum dots (QDs), improvement of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 12.80 to 14.22% can be obtained, in comparison with the pristine device. Moreover, the experimental results are analyzed through the simulation of the one-dimensional perovskite/tin-doped PQDs heterojunction.

Because of the special low-dimensional physical properties of quantum dots (QDs) and the excellent optoelectronic properties of perovskite, the combination of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and QDs may largely be one of the breakthroughs in device performance. However, little attention has been paid to the effect of the size of QDs on device performance except for bandgap tuning. In this work, non-toxic SnS QDs of different sizes were prepared by varying the reaction temperature of the thermal injection method. Their optical bandgaps with sizes were investigated, and they were implanted into the active layers of the carbon-based PSCs without hole transport layer. The effects of implanting SnS QDs with different sizes on the perovskite film quality and PSCs performance were studied. The cells implanted with SnS QDs of the best size (average 6.9 nm) achieved a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 14.26%, reaching a 12.42% improvement. The improved performance was mainly attributed to the presence of SnS QDs, which provided more nucleation sites for the growth of perovskite grains, and contributed to better quality perovskite films (including higher crystallinity, increased grain numbers and fewer surface defects), thus improving the light utilization, accelerating carrier transfer and reducing carrier recombination in the active layers. The successful implantation of QDs with different sizes in this paper has facilitated the development of the combination of perovskite and QDs in mesoporous PSC.

The paper takes station-based bikesharing system (SBS) with docks and dockless free-floating bikesharing system (FBS) as two targets to dig out the relationship between users and use frequency of the services for each scheme, and how the relationship varies from scheme to scheme. To achieve this, studies are carried out focusing on three questions: “who are using these two bicycle services?”; “what are the factors influencing the use frequency of both bicycle systems?”; and “which specific level of the factors influencing the use frequency of both bicycle schemes?” To collect data from users, a survey was designed containing questions for user attributes and service experience and conducted jointly on-line and on-site at four locations with mixed land use in Hangzhou, China. Analysis results show that SBS and FBS have similar user structure but different factors influence use frequency. Based on analysis results, from the user perspective, SBS’s strength is to have good quality with low cost while FBS is more flexible and free to use. Finally, recommendations for SBS are to involve more technology to expand its range to aided bikes for senior citizens and open the access for a mobile renting system, whereas for FBS, it is critical to get government cooperation and for operators to add parking area restrictions into the cellphone application, and create an on-line platform where users can find all the free-floating bike information.

In this study, Ag nanoparticles with diverse particle size and concentration, fabricated via the polyol method, were embedded in a TiO2 compact film to improve the power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells. Obtained results showed that Ag nanoparticles embedded in the TiO2 compact film do not affect the crystal structure of TiO2, while the size of the Ag nanoparticles can strongly influence the light absorption capacity of perovskite materials. However, the absorption intensity and power conversion efficiency of perovskite cells decreased with the increase in size of Ag nanoparticles. The amount of Ag nanoparticles was also an important factor for the performance of perovskite solar cells, and Ag nanoparticles in the compact layer were optimized to measure 10 nm in diameter, being embedded at a molar ratio of 1.5% (Ag:Ti = 1.5 mol%). Compared with hole-conductor-free perovskite solar cells that use carbon as counter electrodes, without Ag nanoparticles incorporated in the compact film, the enhanced efficiency of cells developed in this study can be mainly ascribed to the accelerated charge transfer, decreased charge recombination, and enhanced light absorption of the perovskite material in the visible region.

In this study, Ag/nano-TiO2 composites were prepared and introduced into a compact film of perovskite solar cells. A new method was used to create a compact precursor solution consisting of a mixture of ethanol, titanium diisopropoxide bis, and silver nitrate. The Ag/nano-TiO2 composite compact film was formed by spin-coating a compact precursor solution on a fluorine-doped tin-oxide substrate after annealing at 500 °C for 30 min. The Ag/nano-TiO2 composites were observed with a transmission electron microscope. The perovskite solar cells with different contents of the Ag/nano-TiO2 composite compact film were entirely fabricated in ambient air and based on carbon counter electrodes with diverse power conversion efficiency. The addition of Ag to the nano-TiO2 strengthened the optical absorption of the perovskite solar cells in the visible light region and enhanced the efficiency of electron injection in the perovskite solar cell; this result was mainly ascribed to the strong scattering effect and the surface plasmon resonance effect of the metallic Ag nanoparticles in the Ag/nano-TiO2 composite compact film. Because of the enhancement of electron injection, a small content of Ag/nano-TiO2 composite compact film improved the performance of the perovskite solar cell. Moreover, a perovskite solar cell with 1.5% Ag/nano-TiO2 composite compact film possessed the highest power conversion efficiency (η = 8.96%) and short-circuit photocurrent density (J sc) (=20.42 mA cm−2), resulting in a 30% enhancement in power conversion efficiency and a 23% enhancement in J sc when compared to the pristine TiO2 perovskite solar cell.

In this work, pulsed electron deposition was used to prepare thin films of ITO on plastic substrates. These films were used as electrodes for organic photovoltaic devices to determine the feasibility of using PED deposited ITO as electrodes. ITO films deposited on plastic showed optical transmission values as high as 85% for films deposited at high pressures. Films deposited on plastic substrates were further used to prepare a test organic solar cell, with ITO as the bottom electrode. The device performance was seen to depend on the quality of the ITO electrode, and the ITO film deposited at the lowest oxygen pressure was found to be the best electrode for the organic photovoltaic device.