Advances in materials and devices for smartlife photovoltaic innovations.

The rapid development of photovoltaic (PV) technologies is expanding their applications beyond conventional outdoor energy harvesting into innovative smart-life energy solutions. This review examines the most recent progress in materials and device designs for various emerging PV systems, particularly in indoor and low-light environments, semitransparent devices, and flexible, wearable applications. These advancements have great potential to support autonomous smart life, enhance the energy efficiency of building-integrated solutions, and improve wearable technologies.

Surface Passivation toward Multiple Inherent Dangling Bonds in Indium Phosphide Quantum Dots.

Indium phosphide (InP) quantum dots (QDs) have become the most recognized prospect to be less-toxic surrogates for Cd-based optoelectronic systems. Due to the particularly dangling bonds (DBs) and the undesirable oxides, the photoluminescence performance and stability of InP QDs remain to be improved. Previous investigations largely focus on eliminating P-DBs and resultant surface oxidation states; however, little attention has been paid to the adverse effects of the surface In-DBs on InP QDs.

Pseudohalogen Ammonium Salt-Assisted Syntheses of Large-Sized Indium Phosphide Quantum Dots with Near-Infrared Photoluminescence.

The development of indium phosphide (InP)-based quantum dots (QDs) with a near-infrared (NIR) emission area still lags behind the visible wavelength region and remains problematic. This study describes a one-step pseudohalogen ammonium salt-assisted approach to generate NIR-emitted InP-based QDs with high photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs). The coexistence of NH and PF ions from NHPF may synchronously etch and passivate the surface oxides and impede the creation of traps under the whole growth process of InP QDs.

Multiple underlying images tuned by Mn-doped Zn-Cu-In-S quantum dots.

In this study, ZnS capped Cu-In-S (ZCIS) quantum dots doped with Mn ions are synthesized by a thermal injection method, with luminescence covering almost the entire visible area. The large Stokes shift effectively inhibits the self-absorption effect under luminescence, and the quantum yield of ZCIS quantum dots increased from 38% to 50% after ZnS capping and further to 69% after doping with Mn. First, red-, yellow-, and blue-emitting quantum dots were synthesized and then, polychromatic ensembles were obtained by mixing the trichromatic quantum dots in a different ratio.

Non-destructive prediction of TVB-N using color-texture features of UV-induced fluorescence image for freeze-thaw treated frozen-whole-round tilapia.

Background: The investigation of UV-induced fluorescence imaging coupled with machine learning was conducted to non-destructively detect the total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) of frozen-whole-round tilapia (FWRT) during freezing and thawing. The UV-induced fluorescence images of FWRT at the wavelength of 365 nm were acquired by self-developed fluorescence image acquisition system. In total, 169 color and texture features based on RGB, hue-saturation-intensity and L*a*b* color spaces and gray level co-occurrence matrix were extracted, respectively.

MOF-derived CuS double-faced-decorated carbon nanosheets as high-performance and stable counter electrodes for quantum dots solar cells.

The development of highly-catalytic counter electrode (CE) materials is vital to the construction of quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) but is still challenging. Here, a novel self-assembly double-faced decorated carbon nanosheets with MOF-derived CuS nanospheres (DF-CuS/C NSs) were prepared as high-performance hybrid CEs for improving the catalytic activity towards polysulfide electrolytes and enhancing the performance of QDSCs. It is shown that the MOF-derived CuS nanospheres disperse well on the surface of the carbon NSs in the obtained DF-CuS/C NSs hybrids.

Enhancing Efficiency of Nonfullerene Organic Solar Cells via Using Polyelectrolyte-Coated Plasmonic Gold Nanorods as Rear Interfacial Modifiers.

Sufficient sunlight absorption and exciton generation are critical for developing efficient nonfullerene organic solar cells (OSCs). In this work, polyelectrolyte polystyrenesulfonate (PSS)-coated plasmonic gold nanorods (GNRs@PSS) were incorporated, for the first time, into the inverted nonfullerene OSCs as rear interfacial modifiers to improve sunlight absorption and charge generation via the near-field plasmonic and backscattering effects. The plasmonic GNRs effectively improved the sunlight absorption and enhanced the charge generation.

An Efficient Cyan Emission from Copper (II) Complexes with Mixed Organic Conjugate Ligands.

Copper (II) complexes containing mixed ligands were synthesized in dimethyl formamide (DMF). The intense cyan emission at an ambient temperature is observed for solid copper (II) complexes with salicylic acid and a 12% quantum yield with a fluorescent lifetime of approximately 10 ms. Hence, copper (II) complexes with salicylic acid are excellent candidates for photoactive materials.

Novel Cuboid-like Crystalline Complexes (CLCCs), Photon Emission, Fluorescent Fibers, and Bright Red Fabrics of Eu Complexes Adjusted by Amphiphilic Molecules.

With the growing needs for flexible fluorescence emission materials, emission fibers and related wearable fabrics with bright emission properties have become key factors for wearable applications. In this article, novel cuboid-like crystals of Eu complexes were generated. Except for light-energy-harvesting ligands of thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTA) and 1,10-phenanthroline hydrate (Phen), the crystal structures were adjusted by other functional amphiphilic molecules.

An Effective Strategy to Design a Large Bandgap Conjugated Polymer by Tuning the Molecular Backbone Curvature.

With the significant progress of low bandgap non-fullerene acceptors, the development of wide bandgap (WBG) donors possessing ideal complementary absorption is of crucial importance to further enhance the photovoltaic performance of organic solar cells. An ideal strategy to design WBG donors is to down-shift the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and up-shift the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO). A properly low-lying HOMO of the donor is favorable to obtaining a high open-circuit voltage, and a properly high-lying LUMO of the donor is conductive to efficient exciton dissociation.

Recent advances, challenges and prospects in ternary organic solar cells.

The past decade has seen a tremendous development of organic solar cells (OSCs). To date, high-performance OSCs have boosted power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) over 17%, showing bright prospects toward commercial applications. Compared with binary OSCs, ternary OSCs, by introducing a third component as a second donor or acceptor into the active layer, have great potential in realizing outstanding photovoltaic performance.

MOF-Derived Co,N Codoped Carbon/Ti Mesh Counter Electrode for High-Efficiency Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells.

Carbon supported on titanium mesh electrodes has been recognized as the best performing counter electrodes (CEs) in quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). Herein, layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are applied as a scaffold template for the growth of cobalt-zeolite-imidazole framework (ZIF-67) crystals, and micrometer-sized Co,N codoped porous carbon materials (Co,N-C) are obtained through a carbonization process. The as-prepared Co,N-C exhibits favorable features for electrocatalytic reduction of polysulfide, including a high surface area of 491.

Solar Paint from TiO Particles Supported Quantum Dots for Photoanodes in Quantum Dot-Sensitized Solar Cells.

The preparation of quantum dot (QD)-sensitized photoanodes, especially the deposition of QDs on TiO matrix, is usually a time-extensive and performance-determinant step in the construction of QD-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). Herein, a transformative approach for immobilizing QD on the TiO matrix was developed by simply mixing the as-prepared oil-soluble QDs with TiO P25 particles suspension for a period as short as half a minute. The solar paint was prepared by adding the TiO/QD composite in a binder solution under ultrasonication.

Alloying Strategy in Cu-In-Ga-Se Quantum Dots for High Efficiency Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells.

I-III-VI group "green" quantum dots (QDs) are attracting increasing attention in photoelectronic conversion applications. Herein, on the basis of the "simultaneous nucleation and growth" approach, Cu-In-Ga-Se (CIGSe) QDs with light harvesting range of about 1000 nm were synthesized and used as sensitizer to construct quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), wild-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses demonstrate that the Ga element was alloyed in the Cu-In-Se (CISe) host.

Nitrogen-Doped Mesoporous Carbons as Counter Electrodes in Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells with a Conversion Efficiency Exceeding 12.

The exploration of catalyst materials for counter electrodes (CEs) in quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) that have both high electrocatalytic activity and low charge transfer resistance is always significant yet challenging. In this work, we report the incorporation of nitrogen heteroatoms into carbon lattices leading to nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon (N-MC) materials with superior catalytic activity when used as CEs in Zn-Cu-In-Se QDSCs. A series of N-MC materials with different nitrogen contents were synthesized by a colloidal silica nanocasting method.

Carbon Counter-Electrode-Based Quantum-Dot-Sensitized Solar Cells with Certified Efficiency Exceeding 11.

The mean power conversion efficiency (PCE) of quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) is mainly limited by the low photovoltage and fill factor (FF), which are derived from the high redox potential of polysulfide electrolyte and the poor catalytic activity of the counter electrode (CE), respectively. Herein, we report that this problem is overcome by adopting Ti mesh supported mesoporous carbon (MC/Ti) CE. The confined area in Ti mesh substrate not only offers robust carbon film with submillimeter thickness to ensure high catalytic capacity, but also provides an efficient three-dimension electrical tunnel with better conductivity than state-of-art Cu2S/FTO CE.

Zn-Cu-In-Se Quantum Dot Solar Cells with a Certified Power Conversion Efficiency of 11.6%.

The enhancement of power conversion efficiency (PCE) and the development of toxic Cd-, Pb-free quantum dots (QDs) are critical for the prosperity of QD-based solar cells. It is known that the properties (such as light harvesting range, band gap alignment, density of trap state defects, etc.) of QD light harvesters play a crucial effect on the photovoltaic performance of QD based solar cells.