Sustained stimulated emission under continuous-wave (CW) excitation is a prerequisite for new semiconductor materials being developed for laser gain media. Although hybrid organic-inorganic ...lead-halide perovskites have attracted much attention as optical gain media, the demonstration of room-temperature CW lasing has still not been realized. Here, we present a critical step towards this goal by demonstrating CW amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) in a phase-stable perovskite at temperatures up to 120 K. The phase-stable perovskite maintains its room-temperature phase while undergoing cryogenic cooling and can potentially support CW lasing also at higher temperatures. We find the threshold level for CW ASE to be 387 W cm
at 80 K. These results indicate that easily-fabricated single-phase perovskite thin films can sustain CW stimulated emission, potential at higher temperatures as well, by further optimization of the material quality in order to extend the carrier lifetimes.
A variety of medical, industrial, and scientific applications requires highly sensitive and cost-effective x-ray detectors for photon energies ranging from keV to MeV. Adapting the thickness of ...polycrystalline or single crystal conversion layers especially to high-energy applications increases the complexity of fabrication and potentially decreases the performance of conventional direct conversion x-ray detectors. To tackle the challenges with respect to the active layer thickness and to combine the superior performance of single crystal materials with the low-cost nature of polycrystalline conversion layers, we investigate thin film x-ray detector technologies based on a folded device architecture. Analytical models simulating the sensitivity and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) are used to evaluate the performance of folded detectors based on polycrystalline organic-inorganic perovskite semiconductors in various layout configurations and for different photon energies. Simulations of folded perovskite devices show high sensitivities. The DQE analysis introduces additional noise related boundary conditions for the folding length. A comparison with conventional detectors based on state of the art conversion materials at different photon energies demonstrates the potential of the folded detector layout as simulated sensitivities are comparable to single crystal detectors.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Hybrid organic–inorganic metal halide perovskite semiconductors provide opportunities and challenges for the fabrication of low‐cost thin‐film photovoltaic devices. The opportunities are clear: the ...power conversion efficiency (PCE) of small‐area perovskite photovoltaics has surpassed many established thin‐film technologies. However, the large‐scale solution‐based deposition of perovskite layers introduces challenges. To form perovskite layers, precursor solutions are coated or printed and these must then be crystallized into the perovskite structure. The nucleation and crystal growth must be controlled during film formation and subsequent treatments in order to obtain high‐quality, pin‐hole‐free films over large areas. A great deal of understanding regarding material engineering during the perovskite film formation process has been gained through spin‐coating studies. Based on this, significant progress has been made on transferring material engineering strategies to processes capable of scale‐up, such as blade coating, spray coating, inkjet printing, screen printing, relief printing, and gravure printing. Here, an overview is provided of the strategies that led to devices deposited by these scalable techniques with PCEs as high as 21%. Finally, the opportunities to fully close the shrinking gap to record spin‐coated solar cells and to scale these efficiencies to large areas are highlighted.
Impressive progress has been made in the last few years on producing perovskite photovoltaics using scalable printing and coating technologies. The key developments, such as the control of nucleation and crystal growth of the perovskite thin film, which have enabled this rapid progress in coated and printed perovskite photovoltaics, are highlighted.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
In this work, the authors realize stable and highly efficient wide‐bandgap perovskite solar cells that promise high power conversion efficiencies (PCE) and are likely to play a key role in next ...generation multi‐junction photovoltaics (PV). This work reports on wide‐bandgap (≈1.72 eV) perovskite solar cells exhibiting stable PCEs of up to 19.4% and a remarkably high open‐circuit voltage (VOC) of 1.31 V. The VOC‐to‐bandgap ratio is the highest reported for wide‐bandgap organic−inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells and the VOC also exceeds 90% of the theoretical maximum, defined by the Shockley–Queisser limit. This advance is based on creating a hybrid 2D/3D perovskite heterostructure. By spin coating n‐butylammonium bromide on the double‐cation perovskite absorber layer, a thin 2D Ruddlesden–Popper perovskite layer of intermediate phases is formed, which mitigates nonradiative recombination in the perovskite absorber layer. As a result, VOC is enhanced by 80 mV.
By coating n‐butylammonium bromide on wide‐bandgap double‐cation perovskite absorber layers (EG ≈ 1.72 eV), a thin 2D Ruddlesden–Popper perovskite layer of intermediate phase is formed. The resulting heterostructure mitigates nonradiative recombination and enables a high open‐circuit voltage of up to 1.31 V and stable power output efficiencies of up to 19.4%.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Future lightweight, flexible, and wearable electronics will employ visible‐light‐communication schemes to interact within indoor environments. Organic photodiodes are particularly well suited for ...such technologies as they enable chemically tailored optoelectronic performance and fabrication by printing techniques on thin and flexible substrates. However, previous methods have failed to address versatile functionality regarding wavelength selectivity without increasing fabrication complexity. This work introduces a general solution for printing wavelength‐selective bulk‐heterojunction photodetectors through engineering of the ink formulation. Nonfullerene acceptors are incorporated in a transparent polymer donor matrix to narrow and tune the response in the visible range without optical filters or light‐management techniques. This approach effectively decouples the optical response from the viscoelastic ink properties, simplifying process development. A thorough morphological and spectroscopic investigation finds excellent charge‐carrier dynamics enabling state‐of‐the‐art responsivities >102 mA W−1 and cutoff frequencies >1.5 MHz. Finally, the color selectivity and high performance are demonstrated in a filterless visible‐light‐communication system capable of demultiplexing intermixed optical signals.
Color‐selective organic photodiodes are inkjet printed using a novel photoactive material system based on nonfullerene acceptors. This material system simplifies process development and at the same time enables a high degree of color tunability. Energetic and morphological properties are investigated and the color‐selective devices are employed in a multichannel visible‐light‐communication system.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
Energy-harvesting from low-temperature environmental heat via thermoelectric generators (TEG) is a versatile and maintenance-free solution for large-scale waste heat recovery and supplying ...renewable energy to a growing number of devices in the Internet of Things (IoT) that require an independent wireless power supply. A prerequisite for market competitiveness, however, is the cost-effective and scalable manufacturing of these TEGs. Our approach is to print the devices using printable thermoelectric polymers and composite materials. We present a mass-producible potentially low-cost fully screen printed flexible origami TEG. Through a unique two-step folding technique, we produce a mechanically stable 3D cuboidal device from a 2D layout printed on a thin flexible substrate using thermoelectric inks based on PEDOT nanowires and a TiS
2
:Hexylamine-complex material. We realize a device architecture with a high thermocouple density of 190 per cm² by using the thin substrate as electrical insulation between the thermoelectric elements resulting in a high-power output of 47.8 µWcm
−
² from a 30 K temperature difference. The device properties are adjustable via the print layout, specifically, the thermal impedance of the TEGs can be tuned over several orders of magnitudes allowing thermal impedance matching to any given heat source. We demonstrate a wireless energy-harvesting application by powering an autonomous weather sensor comprising a Bluetooth module and a power management system.
High‐quality charge carrier transport materials are of key importance for stable and efficient perovskite‐based photovoltaics. This work reports on electron‐beam‐evaporated nickel oxide (NiOx) ...layers, resulting in stable power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of up to 18.5% when integrated into solar cells employing inkjet‐printed perovskite absorbers. By adding oxygen as a process gas and optimizing the layer thickness, transparent and efficient NiOx hole transport layers (HTLs) are fabricated, exhibiting an average absorptance of only 1%. The versatility of the material is demonstrated for different absorber compositions and deposition techniques. As another highlight of this work, all‐evaporated perovskite solar cells employing an inorganic NiOx HTL are presented, achieving stable PCEs of up to 15.4%. Along with good PCEs, devices with electron‐beam‐evaporated NiOx show improved stability under realistic operating conditions with negligible degradation after 40 h of maximum power point tracking at 75 °C. Additionally, a strong improvement in device stability under ultraviolet radiation is found if compared to conventional perovskite solar cell architectures employing other metal oxide charge transport layers (e.g., titanium dioxide). Finally, an all‐evaporated perovskite solar mini‐module with a NiOx HTL is presented, reaching a PCE of 12.4% on an active device area of 2.3 cm2.
A highly transparent nickel oxide hole transport layer prepared by oxygen‐assisted electron beam evaporation for perovskite‐based photovoltaics is reported. Using these layers in perovskite solar cells, efficient devices with stable power conversion efficiencies up to 18.5% for inkjet‐printed absorbers and 15.4% for co‐evaporated absorbers are demonstrated. In addition, good stability at elevated temperature and under ultraviolet radiation is shown.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
This paper reports on the impact of outdoor temperature variations on the performance of organo metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs). It shows that the open-circuit voltage (V OC) of a PSC ...decreases linearly with increasing temperature. Interestingly, in contrast to these expected trends, the current density (J SC) of PSCs is found to decline strongly below 20% of the initial value upon cycling the temperatures from 10 to 60 °C and back. This decline in the current density is driven by an increasing series resistance and is caused by the fast temperature variations as it is not apparent for solar cells exposed to constant temperatures of the same range. The effect is fully reversible when the devices are kept illuminated at an open circuit for several hours. Given these observations, an explanation that ascribes the temperature variation-induced performance decline to ion accumulation at the contacts of the solar cell because of temperature variation-induced changes of the built-in field of the PSC is proposed. The effect might be a major obstacle for perovskite photovoltaics because the devices exposed to real outdoor temperature profiles over 4 h showed a performance decline of >15% when operated at a maximum power point.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
L-shaped resonant optical antennas (ROAs) are low-symmetry plasmonic nanostructures with the unique ability to show two tunable resonances in the optical and near-infrared wavelength regions. The ...plasmon length of the so-called longitudinal dipolar fundamental plasmon mode of these asymmetric L-shaped ROAs can be used as plasmon resonance building blocks to design polarization-sensitive devices. This paper introduces and numerically analyzes a novel design of asymmetric L-shape ROAs. The reported design offers two resonance modes, i.e., bimodal longitudinal antenna resonance behavior with a high enhancement factor. These two resonances can be selectively excited by changing the linear polarization angle. It is found that the coupled L-shaped ROA with a very small 2 nm gap width exhibits field enhancements 40 and 147.3 on scale
E
TOT
/
E
IN
for the high energy and low energy resonance, respectively. The obtained results and the analysis open a new route for multiple plasmon resonance devices with ultra-high field enhancement that can be easily integrated with future nano-optical circuits with multiple operational frequencies.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ