Search for: All records

Abstract Perovskite photovoltaics are gaining increasing common ground to partner with or compete with silicon photovoltaics to reduce cost of solar energy. However, a cost-effective waste management for toxic lead (Pb), which might determine the fate of this technology, has not been developed yet. Here, we report an end-of-life material management for perovskite solar modules to recycle toxic lead and valuable transparent conductors to protect the environment and create dramatic economic benefits from recycled materials. Lead is separated from decommissioned modules by weakly acidic cation exchange resin, which could be released as soluble Pb(NO 3 ) 2 followed by precipitation as PbI 2 for reuse, with a recycling efficiency of 99.2%. Thermal delamination disassembles the encapsulated modules with intact transparent conductors and cover glasses. The refabricated devices based on recycled lead iodide and recycled transparent conductors show comparable performance as devices based on fresh raw materials. Cost analysis shows this recycling technology is economically attractive. 

Despite the high-efficiency and low-cost prospect for perovskite solar cells, great concerns of lead toxicity and instability remain for this technology. Here, we report an encapsulation strategy for perovskite modules based on lead-adsorbing ionogel, which prevents lead leakage and withstand long-term stability tests. The ionogel layers integrated on both sides of modules enhance impact resistance. The self-healable ionogel can prevent water permeation into the perovskite layer and adsorb lead that might leak. The encapsulated devices pass the damp heat and thermal cycling accelerated stability tests according to International Electrotechnical Commission 61215 standard. The ionogel encapsulation reduces lead leakage to undetectable level after the hail-damaged module is soaked in water for 24 hours. Even being rolled over by a car followed by water soaking for 45 days, the ionogel encapsulation reduces lead leakage by three orders of magnitude. This work provides a strategy to simultaneously address lead leakage and stability for perovskite modules. 

Layered perovskites have been employed for various optoelectronic devices including solar cells and light‐emitting diodes for improved stability, which need exciton transport along both the in‐plane and the out‐of‐plane directions. However, it is not clear yet what determines the exciton transport along the in‐plane direction, which is important to understand its impact toward electronic devices. Here, by employing both steady‐state and transient photoluminescence mapping, it is found that in‐plane exciton diffusivities in layered perovskites are sensitive to both the number of layers and organic cations. Apart from exciton–phonon coupling, the octahedral distortion is revealed to significantly affect the exciton diffusion process, determined by temperature‐dependent photoluminescence, light‐intensity‐dependent time‐resolved photoluminescence, and density function theory calculations. A simple fluorine substitution to phenethylammonium for the organic cations to tune the structural rigidity and octahedral distortion yields a record exciton diffusivity of 1.91 cm²s⁻¹and a diffusion length of 405 nm along the in‐plane direction. This study provides guidance to manipulate exciton diffusion by modifying organic cations in layered perovskites.

 

Organic–inorganic halide perovskites are promising photodetector materials due to their strong absorption, large carrier mobility, and easily tunable bandgap. Up to now, perovskite photodetectors are mainly based on polycrystalline thin films, which have some undesired properties such as large defective grain boundaries hindering the further improvement of the detector performance. Here, perovskite thin‐single‐crystal (TSC) photodetectors are fabricated with a vertical p–i–n structure. Due to the absence of grain‐boundaries, the trap densities of TSCs are 10–100 folds lower than that of polycrystalline thin films. The photodetectors based on CH₃NH₃PbBr₃and CH₃NH₃PbI₃TSCs show low noise of 1–2 fA Hz^−1/2, yielding a high specific detectivity of 1.5 × 10¹³cm Hz^1/2W⁻¹. The absence of grain boundaries reduces charge recombination and enables a linear response under strong light, superior to polycrystalline photodetectors. The CH₃NH₃PbBr₃photodetectors show a linear response to green light from 0.35 pW cm⁻²to 2.1 W cm⁻², corresponding to a linear dynamic range of 256 dB.

 

The surface composition of perovskite films is very sensitive to film processing and can deviate from the optimal, which generates unfavorable defects and results in efficiency loss in solar cells and slow response speed in photodetectors. An argon plasma treatment is introduced to modify the surface composition by tuning the ratio of organic and inorganic components as well as defect type before deposition of the passivating layer. It can efficiently enhance the charge collection across the perovskite–electrode interface by suppressing charge recombination. Therefore, perovskite solar cells with argon plasma treatment yield enhanced efficiency to 20.4% and perovskite photodetectors can reach their fastest respond speed, which is solely limited by the carrier mobility.