As an n-type inorganic semiconductor, ZnO has been widely used in organic solar cells (OSCs) and hybrid solar cells (HSCs) due to its salient characteristics such as low cost, easy synthesis, non-toxicity, high stability, and good optoelectronic properties. This article reviews the applications of ZnO in solar cells, including ZnO/organic HSCs, and OSCs with ZnO acting as electrode buffer layers or transparent electrodes. For ZnO/organic HSCs, ZnO serves as the electron acceptor material, while organic semiconductors act as electron donor materials. For the buffer layers or electrode applications, ZnO is used as an electron collection and hole blocking material where its structure plays an important role in the determination of the device performance (e.g., power conversion efficiency, lifetime, stability, etc.). Special emphasis goes to the device performance of OSCs and HSCs, which depends not only on the active materials and the device configurations, but also on the structural characteristics of the ZnO buffer layer. Finally, we briefly give an analysis on the opportunities and challenges for this promising semiconductor in OSCs and HSCs.
Recent years have witnessed skyrocketing research achievements in organic–inorganic hybrid lead halide perovskites (OIHPs) in the photovoltaic field. In addition to photovoltaics, more and more studies have focused on OIHPs‐based photodetectors in the past two years, due to the remarkable optoelectronic properties of OIHPs. This article summarizes the latest progress in this research field. To begin with, the factors influencing the performance of photodetectors are discussed, including both internal and external factors. In particular, the channel width and the incident power intensities should be taken into account to precisely and objectively evaluate and compare the output performance of different photodetectors. Next, photodetectors fabricated on single‐component perovskites in terms of different micromorphologies are discussed, namely, 3D thin‐film and single crystalline, 2D nanoplates, 1D nanowires, and 0D nanocrystals, respectively. Then, bilayer structured perovskite‐based photodetectors incorporating inorganic and organic semiconductors are discussed to improve the optoelectronic performance of their pristine counterparts. Additionally, flexible OIHPs‐based photodetectors are highlighted. Finally, a brief conclusion and outlook is given on the progress and challenges in the field of perovskites‐based photodetectors.