Organic-inorganic lead halide based perovskite solar cells have received broad interest due to their merits of low fabrication cost, a low temperature solution process, and high energy conversion efficiencies. Rare-earth (RE) ion doped nanomaterials can be used in perovskite solar cells to expand the range of absorption spectra and improve the stability due to its upconversion and downconversion effect. This article reviews recent progress in using RE-ion-doped nanomaterials in mesoporous electrodes, perovskite active layers, and as an external function layer of perovskite solar cells. Finally, we discuss the challenges facing the effective use of RE-ion-doped nanomaterials in perovskite solar cells and present some prospects for future research.

In this study, Ag@SiO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized by a modified Stöber method for preparing the TiO₂ mesoporous layer of carbon counter electrode-based perovskite solar cells (PSCs) without a hole transporting layer. Compared with normal PSCs (without Ag@SiO₂ incorporated in the TiO₂ mesoporous layer), PSCs with an optimal content of Ag@SiO₂ (0.3 wt. % Ag@SiO₂-TiO₂) show a 19.46% increase in their power conversion efficiency, from 12.23% to 14.61%, which is mainly attributed to the 13.89% enhancement of the short-circuit current density, from 20.23 mA/cm² to 23.04 mA/cm². These enhancements mainly contributed to the localized surface Plasmon resonance effect and the strong scattering effect of Ag@SiO₂ nanoparticles. However, increasing the Ag@SiO₂ concentration in the mesoporous layer past the optimum level cannot further increase the short-circuit current density and incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency of the devices, which is primarily ascribed to the electron transport pathways being impeded by the insulating silica shells inside the TiO₂ network.

High spectra response of metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors (PDs) based on GaN epitaxial wafers with different diameters of Al nanodots on the surface were realized on free-standing GaN substrates. The UV PDs exhibit low dark current and high spectral response both at room temperature and 150℃, demonstrating the thermal stability of the fabricated devices. The peak responsivities for the PDs with Al nanodot diameters of 60, 80, and 120 nm are 1.079, 2.420, and 3.096 A/W, showing an enhancement ratio of 32%, 196%, and 280%, respectively, compared to the referential PD without Al nanodots. Numerical investigations reveal that the significant enhancement performance is due to the localized surface plasmon (LSP) effect, which enhances the localized electric field and produces more electron-hole pairs in the optoelectronic devices, leading to a higher responsivity. The results presented in this work can promote the development and application for high performance GaN UV PDs.

Based on experiments of both transport and paramagnetic resonance for $({\mathrm{La}}_{\text{1−x}}{\mathrm{Y}}_x{)}_{\text{2/3}}{\mathrm{Ca}}_{\text{1/3}}{\mathrm{MnO}}_{\mathrm{3}},$ the ground state above $T_c$ and possible origins of both insulator–metal transition and colossal magnetoresistance near $T_c$ are discussed. Modeling the system as a network of junctions, each consisting of a paramagnetic region sandwiched between two ferromagnetic domains, a phenomenological expression is proposed for resistance as a function of temperature and magnetic field. We show that the observed transport and magnetotransport phenomena can be quantitatively explained by the present model for the whole temperature range studied.

In this study, Ag nanoparticles with diverse particle size and concentration, fabricated via the polyol method, were embedded in a TiO2 compact film to improve the power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells. Obtained results showed that Ag nanoparticles embedded in the TiO2 compact film do not affect the crystal structure of TiO2, while the size of the Ag nanoparticles can strongly influence the light absorption capacity of perovskite materials. However, the absorption intensity and power conversion efficiency of perovskite cells decreased with the increase in size of Ag nanoparticles. The amount of Ag nanoparticles was also an important factor for the performance of perovskite solar cells, and Ag nanoparticles in the compact layer were optimized to measure 10 nm in diameter, being embedded at a molar ratio of 1.5% (Ag:Ti = 1.5 mol%). Compared with hole-conductor-free perovskite solar cells that use carbon as counter electrodes, without Ag nanoparticles incorporated in the compact film, the enhanced efficiency of cells developed in this study can be mainly ascribed to the accelerated charge transfer, decreased charge recombination, and enhanced light absorption of the perovskite material in the visible region.