Advanced Energy Materials

Different photocatalytic performance–nanostructure correlations are observed on photoelectrochemical cell and direct heterogeneous photocatalysis. It is demonstrated that intimate inter-particle connected nanostructures with vectorial charge conduction are favorable in photoelectrochemical cells. For direct heterogeneous photocatalysis, high reactivity facets are more desirable, which have better photo-activated semiconductor/electrolyte interface and better charge separation efficiency.

Inkjet printing is explored as an ambient technique for processing of silver back electrodes in inverted polymer solar cells with the structure: ITO/ZnO/P3HT:PCBM/PEDOT:PSS/Ag. Comparison is made with evaporation and the commonly used ambient processing technique – screen printing. Inkjet printing is found to be an effective ambient processing technique in the processing of back electrodes with devices exhibiting photovoltaic properties similar to those with evaporated back electrodes.

The high performance PBDTTT-C:PC₇₁BM BHJ system is limited by recombination of a nongeminate and non-Langevin origin. Both the mobility and carrier lifetime are increased with higher PC₇₁BM content around the optimal range of 50–67 wt.% PC₇₁BM. The likely origin of this observation is a significant shift in density of states with increased PC₇₁BM concentration.

A thin conformal Li-ion permeable oxide layer is created by rapid plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) for lithium–sulfur batteries in order to prevent the polysulfide dissolution. PEALD offers a fast deposition rate combined with a low operating temperature, which avoids sulfur evaporation during deposition. The result is significantly enhanced cycle life with a capacity of up to 600 mA·h·g⁻¹.

An atomic layer deposition (ALD) process is applied to the porous Li-rich cathode Li_1.2Ni_0.13Mn_0.54Co_0.13O₂ particle for Li-ion batteries. The ALD coated Al₂O₃ using TMA precursor produces a conformal coating on the particles, which is contrary to the particulate morphology of the ALD-coated TiO₂. The paper discusses the impacts of ALD surface-protection film on the battery performance in half- and full-cell configurations at different temperatures.