We attempted surface modification in ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized by the sol–gel process with polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) applied to bulk-heterojunction polymer solar cells (PSCs) as an electron transport layer (ETL). In general, ZnO NPs have trap sites due to oxygen vacancies which capture electrons and degrade the performance of the PSCs. Devices with six different PVP:Zn ratios (0.615 g, 1.230 g, 1.846 g, 2.460 g, 3.075 g, and 3.690 g) were fabricated for surface modification, and the optimized PVP:Zn ratio (2.460 g) was found for PSCs based on P3HT/PCBM. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the fabricated PSCs with PVP-capped ZnO exhibited a significant increase of approximately 21% in PCE and excellent air-stability as compared with the uncapped ZnO-based PSCs.

Lead-free Cs₂AgBiBr₆ perovskites have emerged as a promising, non-toxic, and eco-friendly photovoltaic material with high structural stability and a long lifetime of carrier recombination. However, the poor-light harvesting capability of lead-free Cs₂AgBiBr₆ perovskites due to the large indirect band gap is a critical factor restricting the improvement of its power conversion efficiency, and little information is available about it. Therefore, this study focused on the plasmonic approach, embedded metallic nanospheres in Cs₂AgBiBr₆ perovskite solar cells, and quantitatively investigated their light-harvesting capability via finite-difference time-domain method. Gold and palladium were selected as metallic nanospheres and embedded in a 600 nm thick-Cs₂AgBiBr₆ perovskite layer-based solar cell. Performances, including short-circuit current density, were calculated by tuning the radius of metallic nanospheres. Compared to the reference devices with a short-circuit current density of 14.23 mA/cm², when a gold metallic nanosphere with a radius of 140 nm was embedded, the maximum current density was improved by about 1.6 times to 22.8 mA/cm². On the other hand, when a palladium metallic nanosphere with the same radius was embedded, the maximum current density was improved by about 1.8 times to 25.8 mA/cm².

In this study, we improved the photosensitivity of the lead sulfide quantum dot (PbS QD)-based shortwave infrared (SWIR: 1.0–2.5 μm) photodetector by blending poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) with PbS QD. The PbS QD used for SWIR photoactive layer showed an absorption peak at 1410 nm. In addition, by using zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) as an interlayer, we obtained the stable current characteristics of our device. To confirm the effectiveness of P3HT on the PbS QD-based SWIR photodetector, we compared the electrical characteristics of a PbS QD-based device with a hybrid P3HT:PbS QD-based device. In the reverse bias region, the current on/off ratio of the PbS QD-based device was 1.3, whereas the on/off ratio of the hybrid P3HT:PbS QD-based device was 2.9; 2.2 times higher than the PbS QD-based device. At −1 V, the on/off ratio of the PbS QD-based device was 1.3 and the on/off ratio of the hybrid P3HT:PbS QD-based device was 3.4; 2.6 times higher than the PbS QD-based device. The fabricated P3HT:PbS QD-based device had the highest on/off ratio when −1 V voltage was applied.

We focused on the importance of solvent evaporation governed by the temperature of the pre-annealing stage (T_S) in solution-processed zinc tin oxide (ZTO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). We controlled T_S based on the boiling point (B_P) of the solvent used. When T_S reaches the B_P, the field effect mobility is found to be about 1.03 cm2/V s, which is 10 times larger than the T_S < B_p case (0.13 cm²/V s). The reason is presumed to be that residual organic defects are effectively removed as T_S increases. In addition, when Ts is beyond Bp, the mobility is rather decreased due to structural defects such as pores and pinholes. Based on our results, it is noted that T_S plays a significant role in the enhancement of electrical performance and stability of solution-processed ZTO TFTs.