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Short‐circuit defects caused by microscale dust particles in organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) cause a decrease in production yield and hinder cost reduction. An organic layer coating by solution process is used to prevent short‐circuit defects of particles on a substrate. In this study, the coverage properties of a coated organic layer on size‐controlled particles are revealed. The surface of the substrate with size‐controlled SiO2 particles with a diameter of 0.2–5 µm is quantitatively contaminated, and the particle coverage properties of the solution‐processed hole injection layer are investigated. From the results of the leakage current measurement and cross‐sectional observation by a transmission electron microscope, it is observed that devices with 50 nm‐spin‐coated poly (3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrene sulfonate) can cover SiO2 particles up to 1 µm in diameter without any increase in leakage current. It is revealed that larger‐sized particles cause electric defects, albeit with a low probability, owing to the larger space under the particles. To fabricate OLEDs with a high yield, the shape of the coverage at the bottom of the particle is important in preventing electric defects. The results of this study are useful not only for OLEDs but also for printed and coated devices. To prevent short‐circuit defects caused by dust particles on substrates, the particle coverage properties of the spin‐coated hole injection layer are reported. Quantitatively contaminating the substrate surface with size‐controlled SiO2 particles, poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxy‐thiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) is spin‐coated, resulting in coverage up to SiO2 particles 10–20 times larger than the film thickness.

Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes To prevent short‐circuit defects of OLEDs caused by dust particles on substrates, Yoshiyuki Suzuri and colleagues report on the particle coverage properties of the spin‐coated hole injection layer in article number 2201695. Quantitatively contaminating the substrate surface with size‐controlled SiO2 particles, PEDOT:PSS was spin‐coated, resulting in coverage up to SiO2 particles 10 to 20 times larger than the film thickness.

The formation of a dense and uniform thin layer on the substrates is crucial for the fabrication of high-performance perovskite solar cells (PSCs) containing formamidinium with multiple cations and mixed halide anions. The concentration of defect states, which reduce a cell’s performance by decreasing the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density, needs to be as low as possible. We show that the introduction of additional iodide ions into the organic cation solution, which are used to form the perovskite layers through an intramolecular exchanging process, decreases the concentration of deep-level defects. The defect-engineered thin perovskite layers enable the fabrication of PSCs with a certified power conversion efficiency of 22.1% in small cells and 19.7% in 1-square-centimeter cells.

Ternary chalcogenide AgBiS 2 nanocrystals have emerged as an environmentally friendly and stable material for ultra-thin film lightweight low-cost solar cells. However, their development is currently limited by the poor charge transport characteristics, mainly due to low carrier mobility and the prevalence of surface defects. This leads to a short carrier diffusion length, which severely restricts the thickness of the photoactive layer and the absorption of near-infrared photons. Here, we demonstrate ligand-mediated heteroepitaxial growth of a molecular lead halide perovskite layer bridges along the (100) facet of AgBiS 2 nanocrystals, facilitating both efficient surface passivation and charge transport. The bridged nanocrystals enable the annealing process at elevated temperatures without inducing defect formation. This results in a greater cationic disorder, fully activating their light-absorption capability. The synergistic effect of structural modulation and cation disorder engineering addresses the long-standing trade-off between charge extraction and light absorption of AgBiS 2 nanocrystal solar cells, enabling thick-film fabrication to compensate for losses in infrared absorption. Consequently, the resultant solar cells with a 185 nm-thick AgBiS 2 nanocrystal layer achieve a certified power conversion efficiency of 11.22% and a short-circuit current of ~ 34 mA cm -2 under AM 1.5 G illumination (aperture area: 0.022 cm 2 ), representing a record-high performance. AgBiS₂ nanocrystals show promise for thin, low-cost solar cells but are hindered by poor charge transport and limited infrared absorption. Yang et al. grow a molecular lead halide perovskite layer on the nanocrystals to passivate defects, improve transport, and enable highpower conversion efficiency.

Electricity produced by cadmium telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic modules is the lowest-cost electricity in the solar industry, and now undercuts fossil fuel-based sources in many regions of the world. This is due to recent efficiency gains brought about by alloying selenium into the CdTe absorber, which has taken cell efficiency from 19.5% to its current record of 22.1%. Although the addition of selenium is known to reduce the bandgap of the absorber material, and hence increase the cell short-circuit current, this effect alone does not explain the performance improvement. Here, by means of cathodoluminescence and secondary ion mass spectrometry, we show that selenium enables higher luminescence efficiency and longer diffusion lengths in the alloyed material, indicating that selenium passivates critical defects in the bulk of the absorber layer. This passivation effect explains the record-breaking performance of selenium-alloyed CdTe devices, and provides a route for further efficiency improvement that can result in even lower costs for solar-generated electricity. Selenium in cadmium telluride solar cells is known to allow bandgap engineering, thus enabling highly efficient devices. Here, Fiducia et al. show that selenium also plays a role in passivating defects in the absorber layer.

Fluorinated and nitrogen-doped graphdiyne (F/N-GDY) have been used in the active layer of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) for the first time. The introduction of heteroatoms turns out to be an effective method for boosted solar cells performance, which increases by 32.8% and 33.0%, better than the pristine or GDY doped PSCs. The enhanced performance can be attributed firstly to the superiority of F/N-GDY originated from the unique structure and optoelectronic properties of GDY. Then, both can further reduce surface defects and improve surface and bulk crystallinity than pristine GDY. What’s more, efficiency increase caused by F-GDY is mainly attributed to the improvement of fill factor (FF), while the higher short-circuit current ( J SC ) plays more important role by N-GDY doping. Most importantly, the detailed mechanism brought about by doping of F-GDY or N-GDY is expounded by systematical characterizations, especially the synchrotron radiation technique. Doping of F-GDY causes Pb II+ x and forms new Pb-F bonds between F-GDY and Pb ions. Doping of N-GDY or GDY brings about Pb II− x (N-GDY doping induces more deviation than that of GDY due to the participation of imine N), improving its electron density and conductivity.

Tin selenide (SnSe)-based solar cells are gaining significant interest from researchers due to their exceptional semiconductor properties. The primary aim of this study is to enhance the performance of the newly proposed Cu/FTO/CdS/SnSe/Sb2Se3/Au solar cell and to analyze the effects of the Sb2Se3 second absorber layer and CdS buffer layer on key performance metrics such as open circuit voltage (VOC), short circuit current density (JSC), fill factor (FF), and power conversion efficiency (PCE). SCAPS-1D simulation software was used for this investigation. Various factors were examined to improve performance, including the impacts of thickness variation, carrier concentration, bulk defect concentration in each layer, interface defects, operating temperature, and the placement of front and rear electrodes. The reference structure (Cu/FTO/CdS/SnSe/Au) showed a PCE of 26.15%, VOC of 0.79 V, JSC of 36.36 mA/cm2, and FF of 85.94%. By adding the Sb2Se3 layer as a second absorber in the proposed structure (Cu/FTO/CdS/SnSe/Sb2Se3/Au), the performance improved to a PCE of 28.18%, VOC of 0.84 V, JSC of 38.42 mA/cm2, and FF of 86.57%. This study offers valuable insights and a practical approach to developing economically viable SnSe-based thin-film solar cells.

This study focuses on improving device performance by introducing an innovative double perovskite active layer (DPAL). The proposed design incorporates a DPAL made of CsSnI3 and La2NiMnO6 (LNMO), combined with a tungsten disulfide (WS2) electron transport layer (ETL). Using the Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator Structures (SCAPS-1D) software tool, a novel double absorber solar cell was computationally analyzed. Comparative results show that the DPAL-based perovskite solar cell (PSC) outperforms single active layer PSCs. The study also investigates how factors, such as active layer thickness, defect density, and interface defects affect performance, along with the influence of temperature and doping density on efficiency. The proposed design achieves a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 32.73%, with a short-circuit current density (JSC) of 36.51 mA/cm2, an open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 1.05 V, and a fill factor (FF) of 85.28%. In comparison, single absorber designs based on LNMO and CsSnI3 yield PCEs of 20.26% and 30.57%, respectively. This DPAL-based solar cell shows great potential for advancing highly efficient PSC development in the future.

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have become a photovoltaic hotspot due to their high efficiency, tunable bandgap, and low cost. However, solution-grown thin films exhibit bulk and grain boundary defects, which limit their performance and stability. In this study, MeO-2PACz was used as a bulk passivation agent, and its doping concentration was optimized to elucidate the passivation mechanism. The optimal concentration was determined to be 0.045 mg/ml. At this concentration, the film formed (110) preferred orientation and through-crystalline columnar grains. MeO-2PACz formed coordination bonds with uncoordinated Pb2+, extending the carrier lifetime from 85.64 ns to 226.57 ns and reducing the Urbach energy to 69.33 meV. The device short-circuit current density was 24.96 mA cm−2, with a PCE of 20.56%. The initial efficiency remained around 70% even after 1600 hours in a nitrogen atmosphere. This study provides new insights into bulk defect passivation in perovskites.

Finding materials with excellent dielectric properties to increase the friction charges density is an effective method to improve the output performance of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). As a star material in semiconductors, perovskite has remarkable dielectric properties and can generate considerable frictional charges, which is expected to enable TENGs to achieve high performance. In this study, the organic-inorganic hybrid (MAPbI 3 ) perovskite is used as friction materials to prepare the TENGs device. The Poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) molecule is used to modify the surface of MAPbI 3 to passivize the surface defects of the film, so as to improve the performance of the device greatly. At a mechanical operating frequency of 2 Hz, after PEGDA treatment, the open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current density and transfer charges of the champion device are 276.86 V, 68.61 mA m −2 and 56.08 nC, respectively, which are 54 %, 64 % and 39 % higher than those of the pristine device. And the highest output power density of the device is increased from 3.13 W m −2 to 9.17 W m −2 . The device has excellent continuous operation stability, and the optimized device can light 147 commercial blue LEDs with a power of 0.06 W.