Conjugated polymers have been widely used as hole transport materials (HTM) in the preparation of mesoscopic perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this work, we employed p-type doped conducting polymer known as poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-bis-N,N-(-4-butyl phenyl)-bis-N,N-phenyl-1,4-phenylenediamine) (PFB) as a hole transport material (HTM) in perovskite based solar cell. The effect of dopant concentration on the optical and electrical properties of PEB was investigated to optimize the electrical properties of the material for the best function of the solar cell. The highest power conversion efficiency of mesoscopic perovskite solar cells (PSCs), fabricated in this investigation, was found to be 14.04% which is 57% higher than that of pristine PFB hole transport layer. The UV–Vis absorption and Raman spectroscopy measurements confirm the occurrence of oxidation in a p-type doped PFB hole transport layer. This is attributed to the transfer of electrons from the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of PEB to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of F4TCNQ. The solar cells produced using p-type doped PFB:F4TCNQ composite not only improves device performances but also shows superior long-term stability. The optical, morphological and electrical properties of the doped composite PFB: F4TCNQ and newly fabricated devices are presented and discussed in this paper.

An efficient and robust water oxidation catalyst based on abundant and cheap materials is the key to converting solar energy into fuels through artificial photosynthesis for the future of humans. The development of molecular water oxidation catalysts (MWOCs) is a smart way to achieve promising catalytic activity, thanks to the clear structures and catalytic mechanisms of molecular catalysts. Efficient MWOCs based on noble-metal complexes, for example, ruthenium and iridium, have been well developed over the last 30 years; however, the development of earth-abundant metal-based MWOCs is very limited and still challenging. Herein, the promising prospect of iron-based MWOCs is highlighted, with a comprehensive summary of previously reported studies and future research focus in this area.

Low cost transition metal-based electrocatalysts for water oxidation and understanding their structure-activity relationship are greatly desired for clean and sustainable chemical fuel production. Herein, a core-shell (CS) NiFeCr metal/metal hydroxide catalyst was fabricated on a 3D Cu nanoarray by a simple electrodeposition-activation method. A synergistic promotion effect between electronic structure modulation and nanostructure regulation was presented on a CS-NiFeCr oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst: the 3D nanoarchitecture facilitates the mass transport process, the in situ formed interface metal/metal hydroxide heterojunction accelerates the electron transfer, and the electronic structure modulation by Cr incorporation improves the reaction kinetics. Benefiting from the synergy between structural and electronic modulation, the catalyst shows excellent activity toward water oxidation under alkaline conditions: overpotential of 200 mV at 10 mA/cm(2) current density and Tafel slope of 28 mV/dec. This work opens up a new window for understanding the structure-activity relationship of OER catalysts and encourages new strategies for development of more advanced OER catalysts.

Many nonprecious metal-selenide-based materials have been reported as electrocatalysts with high activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, a hybrid catalyst film composed of Cu2Se and Cu2O nanoparticles directly grown on Ti foil (Cu2Se-Cu2O/TF) was prepared through a simple and fast cathodic electrodeposition method. Surprisingly, this electrode required a relatively low overpotential of 465 mV to achieve a catalytic current density of 10 mA cm-2 for the OER in 0.2 M carbonate buffer (pH = 11.0). Furthermore, a long-term constant current electrolysis test confirmed the high durability of the Cu2Se-Cu2O/TF anode at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 over 20 h. The XRD, TEM and XPS analysis of the sample after the OER indicated that a CuO protective layer formed on the surface of the Cu2Se-Cu2O catalyst, which effectively suppressed further oxidation of the Cu2Se-Cu2O catalyst during the OER and resulted in sustained catalytic oxidation of water.

An ultrathin two-dimensional Zn porphyrin-based metal-organic framework (Zn-MOF nanosheets) is developed and used for the first time in photoreduction of CO2 to CO. Consequently, two novelty noble-metal-free hybrid photocatalytic systems are established and displayed outstanding photocatalytic activity and selectivity for CO evolution under mild photocatalytic reaction conditions. The insight revealed Zn-MOF nanosheets as photo sensitizer displays a better charge transport ability and longer lifetime of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs than the Zn-MOF bulk, which are confirmed by photoelectrochemical impedance and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. These studies show that the development of noble-metal-free photocatalytic systems and various MOF-based materials for photocatalytic applications are promising.

Atomically thin 2D heterostructures have opened new realms in electronic and optoelectronic devices. Herein, 2D lateral heterostructures of mesoporous In2O3-x/In2S3 atomic layers are synthesized through the in situ oxidation of In2S3 atomic layers by an oxygen plasma-induced strategy. Based on experimental observations and theoretical calculations, the prolonged charge carrier lifetime and increased electron density reveal the efficient photoexcited carrier transport and separation in the In2O3-x/In2S3 layers by interfacial bonding at the atomic level. As expected, the synergistic structural and electronic modulations of the In2O3-x/In2S3 layers generate a photocurrent of 1.28 mA cm(-2) at 1.23 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode, nearly 21 and 79 times higher than those of the In2S3 atomic layers and bulk counterpart, respectively. Due to the large surface area, abundant active sites, broadband-light harvesting ability, and effective charge transport pathways, the In2O3-x/In2S3 layers build efficient pathways for photoexcited charge in the 2D semiconductive channels, expediting charge transport and kinetic processes and enhancing the robust broadband-light photo-electrochemical water splitting performance. This work paves new avenues for the exploration and design of atomically thin 2D lateral heterostructures toward robust photo-electrochemical applications and solar energy utilization.

Chemical doping of organic semiconductors has been recognized as an effective way to enhance the electrical conductivity. In perovskite solar cells (PSCs), various types of dopants have been developed for organic hole transport materials (HTMs); however, the knowledge of the basic requirements for being efficient dopants as well as the comprehensive roles of the dopants in PSCs has not been clearly revealed. Here, three copper-based complexes with controlled redox activities are applied as dopants in PSCs, and it is found that the oxidative reactivity of dopants presents substantial impacts on conductivity, charge dynamics, and solar cell performance. A significant improvement of open- circuit voltage (V-oc) by more than 100 mV and an increase of power conversion efficiency from 13.2 to 19.3% have been achieved by tuning the doping level of the HTM. The observed large variation of V-oc for three dopants reveals their different recombination kinetics at the perovskite/HTM interfaces and suggests a model of an interfacial recombination mechanism. We also suggest that the dopants in HTMs can also affect the charge recombination kinetics as well as the solar cell performance. Based on these findings, a strategy is proposed to physically passivate the electron- hole recombination by inserting an ultrathin Al2O3 insulating layer between the perovskite and the HTM. This strategy contributes a significant enhancement of the power conversion efficiency and environmental stability, indicating that dopant engineering is one crucial way to further improve the performance of PSCs.

Spiro-OMeTAD has been the most commonly used hole-transport material in perovskite solar cells. However, this material shows intrinisic drawbacks, such as low hole mobility and conductivity in its pristine form, as well as self-aggregation when deposited as thin film. These are not beneficial properties for efficient hole transport and extraction. In order to address these issues, we have designed a new type of composite hole-transport materials based on a new metal-organic copper complex (CuH) and Spiro-OMeTAD. The incorporation of the molecularly bulky HTM CuH into the Spiro-OMeTAD material efficiently improves the hole mobility and suppresses the aggregation in the Spiro-OMeTAD film. As a result, the conversion efficiencies obtained for perovskite solar cells based on the composite HTM system reached as high as 18.83%, which is superior to solar cells based on the individual hole-transport materials CuH (15.75%) or Spiro-OMeTAD (14.47%) under the same working conditions. These results show that composite HTM systems may constitute an effective strategy to further improve the efficiency of perovskite solar cells.

Earth-abundant transition-metal-based oxides are potential candidates to replace the state-of-the-art noble-metal-based oxygen evolution catalysts (OECs) such as IrO2 and RuO2. Despite the low cost and large abundance, copper-based OER catalysts have been less frequently studied, mainly owing to the low electrical conductivity of copper oxides that results in large overpotential and sluggish kinetics for oxygen evolution. We report here the insitu fabrication of semi-metallic Cu3P nanorod arrays on commercial copper foam via a template approach; the resulting self-supported core-shell Cu-Cu3P/CuO electrode has the merits of high electrical conductivity, large active area, and short diffusion paths for electrolyte and evolved oxygen, exhibiting a low overpotential of 315mV and high durability over 50h at a current density of 10mAcm(-2) for OER in 1.0 M KOH. The remarkable OER performance reported here is not only superior to that of analogous Cu-CuO foam electrode, but also outperforms those of copper-based OER electrocatalysts in the literature.

Two D-A-D-structured hole-transport materials (YN1 and YN2) have been synthesized and used in perovskite solar cells. The two HTMs have low-lying HOMO levels and impressive mobility. Perovskite-based solar cells (PSCs) fabricated with YN2 showed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) value of 19.27% in ambient air, which is significantly higher than that of Spiro-OMeTAD (17.80%). PSCs based on YN1 showed an inferior PCE of 16.03%. We found that the incorporation of the stronger electron-withdrawing group in the HTM YN2 improves the PCE of PSCs. Furthermore, the YN2-based PSCs exhibit good long-term stability retaining 91.3% of its initial efficiency, whereas PSCs based on Spiro-OMeTAD retained only 42.2% after 1000 h lifetime (dark conditions). These promising results can provide a new strategy for the design of D-A-D HTMs for PSC applications in future.