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Lead halide‐based perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are intriguing candidates for photovoltaic technology because of their high efficiency, low cost, and simple process advantages. Owing to lead toxicity, PSCs based on partially/fully substituted Pb with tin have attracted tremendous attention, which would enable the ideal bandgap to approach the Shockley‐Queisser (S‐Q) limit. Especially, methylammonium (MA), bromide‐free, tin‐based perovskites are striking, because of the intrinsic poor stability of MA and blue shift caused by the incorporation of Br−. The first section of this review emphasizes the motivation for studying single‐junction MA, Br‐free, and Sn‐based perovskites. The film quality improvement strategies of Sn‐based perovskites, including additive, composition, dimensional, and interface engineering toward high‐efficiency devices are comprehensively overviewed. Moreover, strategies to improve stability, where shelf, thermal and operational stabilities of the devices are summarized. Finally, this review concludes with a discussion of actual limitations and future prospects for Sn‐based PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) represent a promising next‐generation photovoltaic technology considering their high efficiency and low cost. At the current stage, resolving the stability bottleneck is extremely urgent to realize PSCs' commercialization since the efficiencies of these cells are improved to a level comparable to that of crystalline silicon solar cells. Similar to other functional layers, a proper choice of the rear electrode atop the perovskite layer is equally important for achieving the device's long‐term stability. This topic has not been comprehensively reviewed before. Here, recent progress in the development of rear electrodes based on metals, carbon‐based materials, transparent conductive oxides, and conductive polymers is summarized, especially focusing on their different impacts on the device's long‐term stability and associated degradation mechanisms. In the context of practical applications, the impacts of rear electrode materials on the device's overall efficiency and cost‐effectiveness are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted much attention in the past decade and their power conversion efficiency has been rapidly increasing to 25.2%, which is comparable with commercialized solar cells. Currently, the long‐term stability of PSCs remains as a major bottleneck impeding their future commercial applications. Beyond strengthening the perovskite layer itself and developing robust external device encapsulation/packaging technology, integration of effective barriers into PSCs has been recognized to be of equal importance to improve the whole device's long‐term stability. These barriers can not only shield the critical perovskite layer and other functional layers from external detrimental factors such as heat, light, and H2O/O2, but also prevent the undesired ion/molecular diffusion/volatilization from perovskite. In addition, some delicate barrier designs can simultaneously improve the efficiency and stability. In this review article, the research progress on barrier designs in PSCs for improving their long‐term stability is reviewed in terms of the barrier functions, locations in PSCs, and material characteristics. Regarding specific barriers, their preparation methods, chemical/photoelectronic/mechanical properties, and their role in device stability, are further discussed. On the basis of these accumulative efforts, predictions for the further development of effective barriers in PSCs are provided at the end of this review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, the efficiency of perovskite solar cells quickly increased from 3.8% to 25.2%. The quality of perovskite films plays vital role in device performance. The films fabricated by solution‐process are usually polycrystalline, with significantly higher defect density than that of single crystal. One kind of defect in the films is uncoordinated Pb2+, which is usually generated during thermal annealing process due to the volatile organic component. Another detrimental kind of defect is Pb0, which is often observed during the film fabrication process or solar cell operation. Because the open circuit voltage has a close relation with the defect density, it is thus desirable to passivate these two kinds of defects. Here, a molecule with multiple ligands is introduced, which not only passivates the uncoordinated Pb2+ defects, but also suppresses the formation of Pb0 defects. Meanwhile, such a treatment improves the energy level alignment between the valence band of perovskite and the highest occupied molecular orbital of spiro‐OMeTAD. As a result, the performance of perovskite solar cells significantly increases from 19.0% to 21.4%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The elimination of methylammonium (MA) cation from mixed tin–lead (Sn–Pb) narrow‐bandgap (NBG) perovskites is an effective approach to enhance the operational stability of all‐perovskite tandem solar cells (TSCs). Unfortunately, the uncontrolled nucleation and crystallization processes of MA‐free Sn–Pb perovskites usually lead to inferior film quality and device performance. Herein, a bimolecular crystallization modulation strategy is reported by using guanidine thiocyanate (GuaSCN) and aminoacetamide hydrochloride (AHC) together as additives to improve the film quality of MA‐free Sn–Pb perovskites. It is demonstrated that the use of bimolecular additives can effectively improve the crystallinity, increase the grain size, and induce a preferred (100) orientation for the corresponding films, leading to high‐quality absorber with considerably reduced defect density and suppressed non‐radiative recombination. In addition, the bimolecular additives can reduce the self‐p‐doping hole concentration within the perovskite films and enhance the charge extraction at the perovskite/electron transport layer interface. The modified NBG perovskite solar cells deliver a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 22.14%. Coupled with the wide‐bandgap (WBG) subcell, the all‐perovskite TSCs give a champion certified PCE of 27.15%, which is the highest certified PCE for MA‐free all‐perovskite TSCs. Encapsulated tandem devices maintain 90% of the initial PCE after 473 h operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To promote the practical application of electro-catalyst in vanadium flow battery, cell architecture based on catalyst coated membrane (CCM) is designed. CCM is prepared via spraying electro-catalyst tungsten trioxide/super activated carbon, which exhibits excellent electrochemical performance toward vanadium redox couples, on both sides of the membrane. Results show that the use of CCM structure reduces the charge transfer impedance of the cell, and thus improves the energy efficiency and the power density remarkably. The voltage efficiency and energy efficiency reach as high as 85.9% and 81.2%, respectively, much higher than that using the traditional cell structure (81.3% and 76.9%) at 120 mA cm−2. No loss in efficiency after 300 cycles indicates the favorable cycle stability of CCM. Therefore, CCM can be used as a promising vanadium flow battery structure for enhanced efficiency and power density. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]