Solution-Processed SnO2 Quantum Dots for the Electron Transport Layer of Flexible and Printed Perovskite Solar Cells.

Flexible and printed perovskite solar cells (PSCs) fabricated on lightweight plastic substrates have many excellent potential applications in emerging new technologies including wearable and portable electronics, the internet of things, smart buildings, etc. To fabricate flexible and printed PSCs, all of the functional layers of devices should be processed at low temperatures. Tin oxide is one of the best metal oxide materials to employ as the electron transport layer (ETL) in PSCs. Herein, the synthesis and application of SnO2 quantum dots (QDs) to prepare the ETL of flexible and printed PSCs are demonstrated. SnO2 QDs are synthesized via a solvothermal method and processed to obtain aqueous and printable ETL ink solutions with different QD concentrations. PSCs are fabricated using a slot-die coating method on flexible plastic substrates. The solar cell performance and spectral response of the obtained devices are characterized using a solar simulator and an external quantum efficiency measurement system. The ETLs prepared using 2 wt% SnO2 QD inks are found to produce devices with a high average power conversion efficiency (PCE) along with a 10% PCE for a champion device. The results obtained in this work provide the research community with a method to prepare fully solution-processed SnO2 QD-based inks that are suitable for the deposition of SnO2 ETLs for flexible and printed PSCs.

ß-FeOOH Interlayer With Abundant Oxygen Vacancy Toward Boosting Catalytic Effect for Lithium Sulfur Batteries.

Due to the shuttle effect and low conductivity of sulfur (S), it has been challenging to realize the application of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries with high performance and long cyclability. In this study, a high catalytic active CNTs@FeOOH composite is introduced as a functional interlayer for Li-S batteries. Interestingly, the existence of oxygen vacancy in FeOOH functions electrocatalyst and promotes the catalytic conversion of intercepted lithium polysulfides (LiPS). As a result, the optimized CNTs@FeOOH interlayer contributed to a high reversible capacity of 556 mAh g-1 at 3,200 mA g-1 over 350 cycles. This study demonstrates that enhanced catalytic effect can accelerate conversion efficiency of polysulfides, which is beneficial of boosting high performance Li-S batteries.