Functional 2D Phases in Mixed Dimensional Perovskite Photovoltaics

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with unique properties exhibit their powerful competitiveness in the photovoltaic field over the past few years. However, the challenges of stability for perovskite devices limit the commercialization and further development. The 2D/3D hybrid structures combine the superior efficiency of bulk perovskites and the superior stability of layered perovskites and gradually get hotspots of the photovoltaic field. In addition, there remains a lack of comprehensive understanding and systematic summary of the function of 2D perovskite attributed to the complex nature of 2D/3D structures. Here, the latest progress of 2D/3D hybrid structures and focus on the functionality of 2D phases in mixed structures and the underlying mechanism from the perspective of their different distributions in the perovskite layer is summarized. Then, the insight and vital factors for overall improvements in the stability of 2D/3D structures are thoroughly discussed. Finally, it is expected that this review will contribute to the present challenges and future research prospects in the photovoltaic industry.     

Boosted Photocurrent via Heating BiFeo3 Thin Film for UV Photodetector at Wide Temperature Range

The current research on ferroelectric photovoltaic materials is concentrated on enhancing the output photocurrent. As solar cells operate at high temperatures, it is crucial to take into account the effect of increasing temperatures on ferroelectric photovoltaics. In this study, an LNO (lanthanum nickelate, LaNiO₃)/BFO (bismuth ferrate, BiFeO₃)/ITO (indium tin oxide) device is constructed on a mica substrate by sol–gel method. The device achieves output photocurrent enhancement at a wide temperature range (33–183 °C), with the largest photocurrent enhancement at 130 °C, which is 178% relative to room temperature, and the output power is also increased by 9.88 times. At the same time, compared with BFO bulk, it is found that the performance of BFO film is always higher than that of bulk in the test temperature range, and the output photocurrent of BFO film at room temperature is 104 times higher than that of bulk. This article investigates the effect of high temperatures on ferroelectric photovoltaics and also provides a strategy for enhancing the photovoltaic performance of ferroelectric films, providing guidance for future applications of ferroelectric films in flexible solar cells and other applications.     

Reduced Graphene Oxides Modified Bi2Te3 Nanosheets for Rapid Photo-Thermoelectric Catalytic Therapy of Bacteria-Infected Wounds

Temperature variation-induced thermoelectric catalytic efficiency of thermoelectric material is simultaneously restricted by its electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity. Herein, Bi₂Te₃ nanosheets are in situ grown on reduced graphene oxides (rGO) to generate an efficient photo-thermoelectric catalyst (rGO-Bi₂Te₃). This system exhibits phonon scattering effect and extra carrier transport channels induced by the formed heterointerface between rGO and Bi₂Te₃, which improves the power factor value and reduces thermal conductivity, thus enhancing the thermoelectric performance of 2.13 times than single Bi₂Te₃. The photo-thermoelectric catalysis of rGO-Bi₂Te₃ significantly improves the reactive oxygen species yields, resulting from the effective electron–hole separation caused by the unique thermoelectric field and heterointerfaces of rGO-Bi₂Te₃. Correspondingly, the electrospinning membranes containing rGO-Bi₂Te₃ nanosheets exhibit high antibacterial efficiency in vivo (99.35 ± 0.29%), accelerated tissue repair ability, and excellent biosafety. This study provides an insight into heterointerface design in photo-thermoelectric catalysis.     

Fast Ion Transport in Li-Rich Alloy Anode for High-Energy-Density All Solid-State Lithium Metal Batteries

All-solid-state Li batteries (ASSLBs) with solid-polymer electrolytes are considered promising battery systems to achieve improved safety and high energy density. However, Li dendrite formation at the Li anode under high charging current density/capacity has limited their development. To tackle the issue, Li-metal alloying has been proposed as an alternative strategy to suppress Li dendrite growth in ASSLBs. One drawback of alloying is the relatively lower operating cell voltages, which will inevitably lower energy density compared to cells with pure Li anode. Herein, a Li-rich Li₁₃In₃ alloy electrode (LiRLIA) is proposed, where the Li₁₃In₃ alloy scaffold guides Li nucleation and hinders Li dendrite formation. Meanwhile, the free Li can recover Li's potential and facilitate fast charge transfer kinetics to realize high-energy-density ASSLBs. Benefitting from the stronger adsorption energy and lower diffusion energy barrier of Li on a Li₁₃In₃ substrate, Li prefers to deposit in the 3D Li₁₃In₃ scaffold selectively. Therefore, the Li–Li symmetric cell constructed with LiRLIA can operate at a high current density/capacity of 5 mA cm⁻²/5 mAh cm⁻² for almost 1000 h.     

Tailoring of Photoluminescence Properties in All-Vacuum Deposited Perovskite via Ruddlesden–Popper Faults

Ruddlesden–Popper (RP) faults are well known in oxide perovskites, and are also observed in promising metal halide perovskites. However, the effect of RP faults on optical properties of perovskite has not been systematically investigated. In this study, it is found that RP faults are common planar faults in all-vacuum deposited CsPbBr₃-based perovskite polycrystal thin films, and the density of RP planar faults can be greatly increased by non-stoichiometric composition (Cs-rich) as well as reduced dimensionality (quasi-2D) strategies. The photoluminescence (PL) measurement reveals monotonically increasing peak intensities with higher densities of RP planar faults from Cs-rich, quasi-2D to Cs-rich & quasi-2D samples. The corresponding atomic-scale differential phase contrast maps indicate strongly confined charges within the RP planar fault network, which explains well the relationship between PL enhancement and the density of RP planar faults, and offers an alternative pathway for tailoring the optoelectronic properties of perovskite.     

Exploring a Stable and Dense 3D Lead Chloride Hybrid with Emission of Self-Trapped Excitons toward X-Ray Scintillation

The exceptional photophysical properties of 3D organic–inorganic lead halide hybrids (OILHs) endow their significant potential for usage in optoelectronics, which has sparked intense research on novel 3D OILHs and associated applications. However, constructing new 3D OILHs based on large organic cations suffers from tough challenges due to the limitation of the Goldschmidt tolerance factor rule, let alone further explorations of their practical applications. Herein, a brand-new 3D lead chloride hybrid, (1MPZ)Pb₄Cl₁₀·H₂O ( 1 , 1MPZ = 1-methylpiperazine) is reported, featuring a dense 3D lead chloride framework made of the corner-, edge-, and face-shared lead chloride polyhedra. 1 presents a broadband white light emission with a large Stokes shift and a nanosecond photoluminescence lifetime, which originates from radiative recombination of self-trapped excitons (STEs) induced by the highly distorted structure. Such a reabsorption-free and fast-decayed STEs emission coupling with the dense 3D architecture further enables 1 with effective X-ray scintillation with good sensitivity. Impressively, 1 also shows superior environmental and radiation stability. This study provides a new 3D OILH with appealing luminescence, not only expanding the 3D OILH family but also inspiring the exploitation of their optoelectronic applications.     

Covalent Adaptable Microstructures via Combining Two-Photon Laser Printing and Alkoxyamine Chemistry: Toward Living 3D Microstructures

Manufacturing programmable materials, whose mechanical properties can be adapted on demand, is highly desired for their application in areas ranging from robotics, to biomedicine, or microfluidics. Herein, the inclusion of dynamic and living bonds, such as alkoxyamines, in a printable formulation suitable for two-photon 3D laser printing is exploited. On one hand, taking advantage of the dynamic covalent character of alkoxyamines, the nitroxide exchange reaction is investigated. As a consequence, a reduction of the Young´s Modulus by 50%, is measured by nanoindentation. On the other hand, due to its “living” characteristic, the chain extension becomes possible via nitroxide mediated polymerization. In particular, living nitroxide mediated polymerization of styrene results not only in a dramatic increase of the volume (≈8 times) of the 3D printed microstructure but also an increase of the Young's Modulus by two orders of magnitude (from 14 MPa to 2.7 GPa), while maintaining the shape including fine structural details. Thus, the approach introduces a new dimension by enabling to create microstructures with dynamically tunable size and mechanical properties.     

3D Printing Thermally Stable High-Performance Polymers Based on a Dual Curing Mechanism

High-performance polymers are an important class of materials that are used in challenging conditions, such as in aerospace applications. Until now, 3D printing based on stereolithography processes can not be performed due to a lack of suitable materials. There is report on new materials and printing compositions that enable 3D printing of objects having extremely high thermal resistance, with Tg of 283 °C and excellent mechanical properties. The printing is performed by a low-cost Digital Light Processing printer, and the formulation is based on a dual-cure mechanism, photo, and thermal process. The main components are a molecule that has both epoxy and acrylate groups, alkylated melamine that enables a high degree of crosslinking, and a soluble precursor of silica. The resulting objects are made of hybrid materials, in which the silicon is present in the polymeric backbone and partly as silica enforcement particles.     

High-rate Decoupled Water Electrolysis System Integrated with α-MoO3 as a Redox Mediator with Fast Anhydrous Proton Kinetics

Hydrogen is a promising alternative to fossil fuels that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Decoupled water electrolysis system using a reversible proton storage redox mediator, where the oxygen evolution reaction and hydrogen evolution reaction are separated in time and space, is an effective approach to producing hydrogen gas with high purity, high flexibility, and low cost. To realize fast hydrogen production in such a system, a redox mediator capable of releasing protons rapidly is required. Herein, α-MoO₃, with an ultrafast proton transfer property that can be explained by a dense hydrogen bond network in the lattice oxygen arrays of HxMoO₃, is examined as a high-rate redox mediator for fast hydrogen production in acidic electrolytes. The α-MoO₃ redox mediator shows both a large capacity of 204 mAh g⁻¹ and fast hydrogen production at a current rate of 10 A cm⁻²(≈153 A g⁻¹), outperforming most of the previously reported solid-state redox mediators.     

A Phase Engineering Strategy of Perovskite-Type ZnSnO3:Nd for Boosting the Sonodynamic Therapy Performance

The sensitization performance of sonosensitizers plays a key role in the sonodynamic therapy (SDT) effect. Herein, ZnSnO₃:Nd nanoparticles with R3c phase/amorphous heterogeneous structure are developed by phase engineering strategy and applied as an ideal sonosensitizer. In the crystalline perovskite-type ZnSnO₃:Nd, the substitution of the Zn²⁺ with Nd³⁺ causes the O 2p non-bonded state to move toward the Fermi level, which optimizes the band structure for ultrasound sensitization by reducing bandgap. Meanwhile, the unequal charge substitution can also form electron traps and oxygen vacancies to shorten the electron migration distance, which accelerates the electron–hole separation and inhibits carrier recombination, thus improving the acoustic sensitivity. Moreover, the dangling bonds exposed on the surface of amorphous ZnSnO₃:Nd provide more active sites, and the localized states of the amorphous phase may also promote carrier separation, resulting in synergistic SDT effect. In particular, the Zn²⁺ released from ZnSnO₃:Nd in the acidic tumor microenvironment (TME) reduces the adenosine triphosphate production by inhibiting the electron transport chain , which promotes the tumor cell apoptosis through destroying the redox balance of TME. Combining the inherent second near infrared and computed tomography imaging capabilities, this ZnSnO₃:Nd nanoplatform shows a promising perspective in clinic SDT field.