Solar RRLPub Date : 2025-09-10DOI: 10.1002/solr.202500530
Chuang Yang, Wenjing Hu, Xiaoyu Li, Jiale Liu, Chaoyang Wang, Yang Zhou, Anyi Mei, Hongwei Han
{"title":"Modulating Molecular Interaction of Benzimidazole Derivatives Via Isomerization Toward Rational Additive Engineering for Printable Mesoscopic Perovskite Solar Cells","authors":"Chuang Yang, Wenjing Hu, Xiaoyu Li, Jiale Liu, Chaoyang Wang, Yang Zhou, Anyi Mei, Hongwei Han","doi":"10.1002/solr.202500530","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202500530","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Defect states at the boundaries and the perovskite/electron transport layer (ETL) interface critically induce charge recombination in printable mesoscopic perovskite solar cells (p-MPSCs). Herein, we engineer the defect management by introducing two multifunctional benzimidazole derivative additives, 1H-benzimidazole-2-carboxylicacid (2-CBIm) and 5-benzimidazolecarboxylic acid (5-CBIm), which are isomers with different functional group positions, for improving the performance of p-MPSCs. The functional group position differences modulate the defect passivation ability of 2-CBIm and 5-CBIm in p-MPSCs. 5-CBIm, featuring desired distribution of the carboxyl group and the imidazole group, presents superior binding with perovskite and the TiO<sub>2</sub> ETL than 2-CBIm, whose interaction ability is influenced by the steric effect. The enhanced interaction facilitates defect passivation and nonradiative recombination suppression in p-MPSCs. Consequently, the 5-CBIm device achieves a well-improved champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.61%, surpassing the 2-CBIm device (19.40%) and the control device (18.17%). This work contributes to a better understanding of structure–property relationships and opens extended possibilities for designing advanced defect passivation additives.</p>","PeriodicalId":230,"journal":{"name":"Solar RRL","volume":"9 20","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145341487","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Solar RRLPub Date : 2025-09-10DOI: 10.1002/solr.202500553
Yao Lu, Xiaohua Liu, Heyu Jin, Junnan Jiang, Hongyu Ge, Lin Mu
{"title":"Numerical Simulation of Photothermal Evaporation: Advances in the Optimal Design of Solar-Driven Interfacial Evaporation","authors":"Yao Lu, Xiaohua Liu, Heyu Jin, Junnan Jiang, Hongyu Ge, Lin Mu","doi":"10.1002/solr.202500553","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202500553","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The escalating global population and intensifying pollution have brought the freshwater crisis into sharp focus. Solar-driven interfacial evaporation (SDIE), recognized as a green, low- cost, and highly efficient solution, has garnered widespread attention. SDIE is a complex multiphysics coupled system, and its underlying physical mechanisms cannot be fully revealed by experimental methods alone. Numerical simulation techniques provide a powerful tool for elucidating these intrinsic mechanisms and optimizing material selection and system design. This review synthesizes the latest research and breakthrough advances in applying numerical simulations to investigate SDIE. It summarizes key aspects, including thermal management, water transport, water evaporation, and salt resistance within these systems, offering valuable research directions for advancing the practical application of this technology.</p>","PeriodicalId":230,"journal":{"name":"Solar RRL","volume":"9 20","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145341488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Solar RRLPub Date : 2025-09-09DOI: 10.1002/solr.202500470
Tahir Naveed Jahangir, Alanud S. F Almelehi, Muhammad Younas, Tarek A. Kandiel
{"title":"Dual Chemical Bath and Drop-Casting Strategy for CoV2O6/BiVO4 Heterostructure Fabrication to Improve Charge Separation and Boost Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting","authors":"Tahir Naveed Jahangir, Alanud S. F Almelehi, Muhammad Younas, Tarek A. Kandiel","doi":"10.1002/solr.202500470","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202500470","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Developing a facile approach for the fabrication of high-quality BiVO<sub>4</sub> films is essential to enhance the photoelectrochemical performance of BiVO<sub>4</sub> photoanodes. Herein, we report a novel dual chemical bath deposition and drop-casting strategy for fabricating pinhole-free CoV<sub>2</sub>O<sub>6</sub>/BiVO<sub>4</sub> heterostructure. First, a Co(OH)<sub>2</sub> layer was grown on an FTO substrate via chemical bath deposition. Then, a Bi/V precursor mixture was drop-cast and annealed to obtain high-quality CoV<sub>2</sub>O<sub>6</sub>/BiVO<sub>4</sub> photoanodes. This dual-deposition approach was crucial for preventing pinhole formation and thereby minimizing the solution-mediated back-reduction reaction at the FTO back contact. Photoelectrochemical measurements revealed that the CoV<sub>2</sub>O<sub>6</sub>/BiVO<sub>4</sub> photoanodes exhibited a fivefold increase in photocurrent compared to pristine BiVO<sub>4</sub> photoanodes. After modification with water oxidation cocatalysts, the photoanodes delivered a stable photocurrent density of 4.55 mA cm<sup>−2</sup> at 1.23 V<sub>RHE</sub>. They demonstrated a Faradaic efficiency of 95% and achieved an applied bias photon-to-current efficiency of 1.45%, representing a sevenfold improvement over pristine BiVO<sub>4</sub>. The enhanced photoelectrocatalytic performance is primarily attributed to the formation of the pinhole-free CoV<sub>2</sub>O<sub>6</sub>/BiVO<sub>4</sub> heterostructure, which suppresses surface recombination and extends the lifetime of photogenerated holes, as confirmed by transient photocurrent and intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy measurements. The developed dual-deposition strategy is facile and can be applied to other metal oxide-based photoanodes.</p>","PeriodicalId":230,"journal":{"name":"Solar RRL","volume":"9 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145196724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Solar RRLPub Date : 2025-09-06DOI: 10.1002/solr.202500210
Xie Di, Xiang Huang, Yi Jin, Rui Hu, Xiaojie Ren, Yitong Ji, Xiaotong Liu, Xueyuan Yang, Wenchao Huang
{"title":"A Facile Anti-Solvent Method to Simultaneously Improve Efficiency and Reproducibility of Layer-by-Layer Organic Solar Cells","authors":"Xie Di, Xiang Huang, Yi Jin, Rui Hu, Xiaojie Ren, Yitong Ji, Xiaotong Liu, Xueyuan Yang, Wenchao Huang","doi":"10.1002/solr.202500210","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202500210","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Layer-by-layer (LBL) spin-coating is a widely recognized method for developing high-efficiency organic solar cells (OSCs). However, in the LBL device with a conventional architecture, the residual solvents trapped in the underlying donor film will affect the interface between donor and acceptor materials as well as the morphology of upper acceptor materials, thus leading to poor reproducibility and efficiency. This study provides a facile strategy that spin-coats a mixed solvent of methanol and acetic acid, facilitating the removal of residual solvents from the donor material. The introduction of the mixed anti-solvent can also optimize the roughness, facilitate the crystallization of the donor material, and improve interfacial properties. The devices without any further treatment exhibit a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.8%, while devices treated with pristine methanol achieve an efficiency up to 18.4%. Notably, devices treated with mixed methanol and acetic acid further boost efficiency to 19.3%. Furthermore, this approach is also applicable to flexible OSCs, yielding an efficiency of 18.0%.</p>","PeriodicalId":230,"journal":{"name":"Solar RRL","volume":"9 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145196608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Solar RRLPub Date : 2025-09-05DOI: 10.1002/solr.202500437
Isshin Sumiyoshi, Yoshitaro Nose
{"title":"Steady-State Carrier Distribution under Short-Circuit Conditions—Role of Electric Field and Generation Rate Profiles in homo-pn Solar Cells","authors":"Isshin Sumiyoshi, Yoshitaro Nose","doi":"10.1002/solr.202500437","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202500437","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Short-circuit current density (<i>J</i><sub>SC</sub>) represents the maximum extractable current for photovoltaics, and closing the gap to its radiative limit is crucial for advanced and emerging technologies. However, analysis of its losses remains unstructured, because the classical current density expression—proportional to carrier concentration and gradient of quasi-Fermi levels—becomes cumbersome under short-circuit conditions. Most simulations therefore focus on the maximum-power point, leaving no clear framework for pinpointing <i>J</i><sub>SC</sub> losses or developing design guidelines. Here, we address this issue using a charge-balance framework, in which the divergence of current density equals the net generation at steady state. This formulation reduces the analysis of <i>J</i><sub>SC</sub> to identifying the dominant factors governing the excess carrier distribution under short circuit conditions—an approach that constitutes the main contribution of this work. Systematic SCAPS-1D simulations of <i>homo-pn</i> solar cells reveal that this distribution is governed primarily by the internal electric field, rather than the equilibrium carrier concentration, although both drift and diffusion contribute. Analysis using infinitesimal photogeneration slices further shows that each excess carrier distribution consists of a peak at the generation site and tails extending into nongeneration regions, both of which drive recombination. This framework offers a direct, quantitative route for identifying and minimizing <i>J</i><sub>SC</sub> losses.</p>","PeriodicalId":230,"journal":{"name":"Solar RRL","volume":"9 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/solr.202500437","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145196562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Solar RRLPub Date : 2025-09-02DOI: 10.1002/solr.202500422
M. L. Keshtov, Zh. Xie, A. R. Khokhlov, V. N. Sergeev, D. P. Kalinkin, D. Y. Shikin, D. Y. Godovsky, S. Karak, Ganesh D. Sharma
{"title":"Novel Noncondensed Acceptors Based on 4H-Dithieno[3,2-B:2′, 3′-D]pyrrole and 4H-Cyclopenta[1,2-B:5,4-B′]Dithiophene N, S-Heterocycles with an Ethynylene Linker for Ternary Polymer Solar Cells with an Efficiency More than 15%","authors":"M. L. Keshtov, Zh. Xie, A. R. Khokhlov, V. N. Sergeev, D. P. Kalinkin, D. Y. Shikin, D. Y. Godovsky, S. Karak, Ganesh D. Sharma","doi":"10.1002/solr.202500422","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202500422","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study explores the design, synthesis, and application of two nonfused ring nonfullerene acceptors, namely <b>ECPDT-IC</b> and <b>EDTP-IC</b>, featuring an ethynylene linkers between two 4Hcyclopenta[1,2-b:5,4-b0]dithiophene (CPDT) units and two 4-(2-octyldodecyl)-4H-dithieno[3,2-b:2′, 3′-d]pyrrole (DTP) units, respectively. The incorporation of the ethynylene linker is found to effectively regulate the energy levels and molecular conformations of the nonfullerene acceptors. The <b>EDTP-IC</b> with a DTP central core exhibits higher electron mobility, compared to <b>ECPDT-IC</b>. The frontier energy levels of both <b>ECPDT-IC</b> and <b>EDTP-IC</b> are aligned with PTB7-Th and also showed complementary absorption profiles. The organic solar cells (OSCs) based on PTB7-Th:<b>EDTP-IC</b> attained higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) (13.35%) as compared to the PTB7-Th:<b>ECPDT-IC</b> counterpart (10.87%), attributed to efficient exciton dissociation and charge transport. Further, the PCE has been improved to 15.17% for ternary OSC, when <b>ECPDT-IC</b> was added to PTB7-Th:<b>EDTP-IC</b> binary active layer. The PCE is about 15%, likely due to the active layer's absorption spectrum being limited to 820 nm. However, these NFR-NFAs could be promising for efficient indoor OSCs and as guest components in OSCs with wide bandgap polymers and narrow bandgap acceptors.</p>","PeriodicalId":230,"journal":{"name":"Solar RRL","volume":"9 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145196449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}