Sn-Doped Zinc Oxide as an Electron Transporting Layer for Enhanced Performance in PbS Quantum Dot Solar Cells.

Colloidal PbS quantum dot solar cells (QDSCs) have been primarily demonstrated in n-i-p structures by incorporating a solution-processed ZnO electron transporting layer (ETL). Nevertheless, the inherent energy barrier for the electron extraction at the ZnO/PbS junction along with the defective nature significantly diminishes the performance of the PbS QDSCs. In this study, by employing Sn-doped ZnO (ZTO) ETL, we have tuned the conduction band offset at the junction from spike-type to cliff-type so that the electron extraction barrier can be eliminated and the overall photovoltaic parameters can be enhanced (open-circuit voltage of 0.7 V, fill factor over 70%, and efficiency of 11.3%) as compared with the counterpart with the undoped ZnO ETL. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis revealed a mitigation of oxygen vacancies in the ZTO ETL of our PbS QDSCs. Our work signifies the importance of Sn doping into the conventional ZnO ETL for the superior electron extraction in PbS QDSCs.

Spectrally Resolved Exciton Polarizability for Understanding Charge Generation in Organic Bulk Hetero-Junction Diodes.

Despite decades of research, the dominant charge generation mechanism in organic bulk heterojunction (BHJ) devices is not completely understood. While the local dielectric environments of the photoexcited molecules are important for exciton dissociation, conventional characterizations cannot separately measure the polarizability of electron-donor and electron-acceptor, respectively, in their blends, making it difficult to decipher the spectrally different charge generation efficiencies in organic BHJ devices. Here, by spectrally resolved electroabsorption spectroscopy, we report extraction of the excited state polarizability for individual donors and acceptors in a series of organic blend films. Regardless of the donor and acceptor, we discovered that larger exciton polarizability is linked to larger π-π coherence length and faster charge transfer across the heterojunction, which fundamentally explains the origin of the higher charge generation efficiency near 100% in the BHJ photodiodes. We also show that the molecular packing of the donor and acceptor influence each other, resulting in a synergetic enhancement in the exciton polarizability.

Pressurized Back-Junction Doping via Spray-Coating Silver Nanowires Top Electrodes for Efficient Charge Collection in Bifacial Colloidal PbS Quantum Dot Solar Cells.

Colloidal PbS quantum-dot solar cells (QDSCs) have long suffered from inefficient charge collection near the back-junction due to the lack of p-doping strategy, rendering their bifacial photovoltaic applications unsuccessful. Here, we report highly efficient photocarrier collection in bifacial colloidal PbS QDSCs by exploiting spray-coated silver nanowires (AgNWs) top electrodes. During our spray-coating process, pressurized Ag diffusion occurred toward the active layer, which induced effective p-doping and deep-level passivation. By manipulating the spray pressure, optimum AgNWs' stacking morphology enabling an appropriate level of Ag diffusion could be achieved, leading to Jsc over 30 mA/cm2 from the conventional n-i-p structure upon light illumination to the film side. The morphological and electrical behaviors of AgNWs according to the spray pressure are comprehensively explained in relation to the device performance. Finally, 50 bifacial cells were fabricated over 49 cm2 sized glass substrate, demonstrating the large-area processability and functionality of the spray-coated AgNWs with the effective back-junction engineering.

Dynamic one-shot target detection and classification using a pseudo-Siamese network and its application to Raman spectroscopy.

Target detection and classification by Raman spectroscopy are important techniques for biological and chemical defense in military operations. Conventionally, these techniques preprocess the observed spectra using smoothing or baseline correction and apply detection algorithms like the generalized likelihood ratio test, independent component analysis, nonnegative matrix factorization, etc. These conventional detection algorithms need preprocessing and multiple shots of Raman spectra to get a reasonable accuracy. Recently, techniques based on deep learning are being used for target detection and classification due to its great adaptability and high accuracy over other methods and due to no requirement for preprocessing. Deep learning may give a good performance, but need retraining when untrained class targets are introduced which is time-consuming and bothersome. We devise a novel algorithm using a variant of the pseudo-Siamese network, one of the deep learning algorithms, that does not need retraining to detect and classify untrained class targets. Our algorithm detects and classifies targets with only one shot. In addition, our algorithm does not need preprocessing. We verify our algorithm with Raman spectra measured using a Raman spectrometer.

Direct Acoustic Imaging Using a Piezoelectric Organic Light-Emitting Diode.

Conventional ultrasonic imaging requires acoustic scanning over a target object using a piezoelectric transducer array, followed by signal processing to reconstruct the image. Here, we report a novel ultrasonic imaging device that can optically display an acoustic signal on the surface of a piezoelectric transducer. By fabricating an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) on top of a piezoelectric crystal, lead zirconate titanate (PZT), an acousto-optical piezoelectric OLED (p-OLED) transducer is realized, converting an acoustic wave profile directly to an optical image. Because of the integrated device architecture, the resulting p-OLED features a high acousto-optic conversion efficiency at the resonance frequency, providing a piezoelectric field to drive the OLED. By incorporating an electrode array in the p-OLED, we demonstrate a novel tomographic ultrasound imaging device that is operated without a need for conventional signal processing.

Thin Ag Precursor Layer-Assisted Co-Evaporation Process for Low-Temperature Growth of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Thin Film.

Achieving favorable band profile in low-temperature-grown Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films has been challenging due to the lack of thermal diffusion. Here, by employing a thin Ag precursor layer, we demonstrate a simple co-evaporation process that can effectively control the Ga depth profile in CIGS films at low temperature. By tuning the Ag precursor thickness (∼20 nm), typical V-shaped Ga gradient in the copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) film could be substantially mitigated along with increased grain sizes, which improved the overall solar cell performance. Structural and compositional analysis suggests that formation of liquid Ag-Se channels along the grain boundaries facilitates Ga diffusion and CIGS recrystallization at low temperatures. Formation of a fine columnar grain structure in the first evaporation stage was beneficial for subsequent Ga diffusion and grain coarsening. Compared to the modified co-evaporation process where the Ga evaporation profile has been directly tuned, the Ag precursor approach offers a convenient route for absorber engineering and is potentially more applicable for roll-to-roll fabrication system.

Formation of Perovskite Heterostructures by Ion Exchange.

Thin-film optoelectronic devices based on polycrystalline organolead-halide perovskites have recently become a topic of intense research. Single crystals of these materials have been grown from solution with electrical properties superior to those of polycrystalline films. In order to enable the development of more complex device architectures based on organolead-halide perovskite single crystals, we developed a process to form epitaxial layers of methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) on methylammonium lead bromide (MAPbBr3) single crystals. The formation of the MAPbI3 layer is found to be dominated by the diffusion of halide ions, leading to a shift in the photoluminescence and absorption spectra. X-ray diffraction measurements confirm the single-crystal nature of the MAPbI3 layer, while carrier transport measurements show that the converted layer retains the high carrier mobility typical of single-crystal perovskite materials. Such heterostructures on perovskite single crystals open possibilities for new types of devices.

Vertical Organic Field-Effect Transistors for Integrated Optoelectronic Applications.

Direct integration of a vertical organic field-effect transistor (VOFET) and an optoelectronic device offers a single stacked, low power optoelectronic VOFET with high aperture ratios. However, a functional optoelectronic VOFET could not be realized because of the difficulty in fabricating transparent source and gate electrodes. Here, we report a VOFET with an on/off ratio up to 10(5) as well as output current saturation by fabricating a transparent gate capacitor consisting of a perforated indium tin oxide (ITO) source electrode, HfO2 gate dielectric, and ITO gate electrode. Effects of the pore size and the pore depth within the porous ITO electrodes on the on/off characteristic of a VOFET are systematically explained in this work. By combining a phosphorescent organic light-emitting diode with an optimized VOFET structure, a vertical organic light-emitting transistor with a luminance on/off ratio of 10(4) can be fabricated.

Inorganic UV-Visible-SWIR Broadband Photodetector Based on Monodisperse PbS Nanocrystals.

Solution-processed inorganic UV-visible short-wave-infrared photodetectors with light sensitivity from 350 nm to 2000 nm are fabricated using highly monodispersed large PbS NCs. These devices showed detectivity values over 1 × 10(11) Jones from 350 nm to 2000 nm, and a maximum detectivity value of 1.2 × 10(12) Jones at 1800 nm.

All solution-processed inorganic/organic hybrid permeable metal-base transistor.

All solution-processed inorganic/organic hybrid permeable-base transistor (PMBT) based on nickel oxide emitter and P3HT collector is developed. Due to the high charge injection properties of nickel oxide and spontaneously formed nano-pinholes in the base electrode, the devices exhibit high common-base and common-emitter current gains up to 0.98 and 304, respectively with saturated output current.