Themed collection Highlights in solar cells

This perspective explores the central role of energy in human development and argues that a sustainable energy transition is feasible with current technologies—especially solar PV—requiring investments of ∼1% of global GDP.

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are one of the emerging photovoltaic (PV) technologies that is undergoing rapid development at the lab scale with a certified power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 26.7%.

We discuss recent advances and outlook for highly efficient perovskite-based triple-junction tandem solar cells.

Machine learning offers new tools to transform scientific research. This review highlights the recent advancements, opportunities and challenges of machine learning for materials scientists focusing on perovskite-based solar cells.

This review highlights the potential of emerging inorganic chalcogenide–silicon tandem solar cells, which address efficiency and stability limitations of single-junction devices and offer a less-toxic, more stable alternative for tandem applications.

This review summarizes the recent progress, challenges, and future perspective towards stable non-fullerene organic solar cells (NF-OSCs) with detailed discussion of various aspects and effective strategies to improve the stability of NF-OSCs.

Comprehensive review of perovskite solar cell fabrication, comparing lab-scale spin-coating under controlled conditions with large-scale techniques, emphasizing scalable, cost-effective methods in open-air environments.

Semi-transparent photovoltaics (STPVs) have attracted increasing attention owing to their ability to seamlessly integrate power generation with light transmission.

As solar energy emerges as a pivotal renewable energy source, the environmental challenge of end-of-life photovoltaic (PV) module disposal intensifies.

A schematic summary of this review highlights tin as an alternative to lead in perovskite solar cells. Lead toxicity limits its commercial potential, which tin perovskites can overcome with their enhanced optoelectronic properties.

This research explores the incorporation of 2D materials, BDAI₂ and DMPDAI₂, into perovskite solar cells, demonstrating enhanced efficiency and stability in the resulting devices.

This research analyzes four perovskite solar cell architectures, emphasizing the effects of material selection, absorber thickness, defect and acceptor densities, interface imperfections, and temperature fluctuations on device efficiency.

While the low-energy side of the ΔA curves remains stable over time, the high-energy side changes dramatically, reflecting hot carrier thermalization, which occurs at different rates on the hole and electron transport sides in perovskite solar cells.

Power conversion efficiency gain of tandem solar cells as a function of bottom and top sub-cell bandgap energy compared to single junction counterparts.

Single-crystalline MAPbCl₃ thin films grown via space-confined ITC enable transparent solar cells with a V_OC of 1.64 V and 1.1% PCE. They also advance X-ray voltaics, showing 0.89 V V_OC and 3.57 μW cm⁻² output power under X-ray irradiation.

Using an automated spin-coating system and Bayesian optimization, the material composition and process conditions of perovskite were efficiently optimized.

A thermal annealing treatment applied to the silicon bottom cell as well as a morphology regulation strategy of buried interface are employed to improve charge carrier management in perovskite/POLO-Si tandem solar cells, achieving a PCE of 31%.

Isomerization of peripheral functional groups of acceptors refines aggregation and non-radiative energy loss for efficient organic solar cells.

In this work, we demonstrate that a high concentration of hole carriers and tin vacancies facilitates the migration of iodide, enhancing ionic conductivity and mobile ion density in Sn-based halide perovskites.

Intrinsic point defects are found to be inactive for electron–hole recombination, while extrinsic impurities do not contribute significantly to doping, pointing to extended defects and interfaces as limiting factors in selenium solar cells.

Short-circuit current density (J_sc) loss distributions of multiple record silicon heterojunction solar cells are modelled and practical J_sc limits are assessed.

The co-alloying of antimony and bismuth in a new CsMAFA-Sb:Bi perovskite-inspired material leads to enhanced microstructure, reduced ion migration, increased solar cell power conversion efficiency, and impressive operational stability.

Aluminium-doped ZnO deposited by ALD provides transparency, conductivity, and c-Si passivation for high-efficiency solar cells, reducing the need for indium-based TCOs. Precise Zn/Al control enables passivation with J₀ < 1 fA cm⁻² and 740 mV iV_OC.

A new method and additive for printing tin-based perovskite films were developed, which enabled printing the first slot-die-coated tin perovskite device. This advancement paves the way for scalable, fully printed lead-free perovskite photovoltaics.

4PABCz molecules with asymmetric structures form dense coverage on FTO substrates owing to their robust multilayered structure with strong intermolecular π–π stacking and face-on configuration for efficient charge transport.

Thermal co-evaporation of halide perovskites is a solution-free, conformal, scalable, and controllable deposition technique with great potential for commercial applications, particularly in multi-junction solar cells.

Augmenting characterization methods with deep learning and other machine learning methods allows the identification of material inconsistencies, device performance predictions, and the generation of in situ AI recommendations.

The photoactive α-phase of formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI₃) is not thermodynamically stable at operating temperatures, but can be significantly improved by incorporating 5-ammonium valeric acid chloride into precursor solutions.

In all-inorganic perovskite solar cells with solution-processed semitransparent electrodes of single-walled carbon nanotubes, bifacial irradiation largely enhances power-conversion efficiencies matching the sum of monofacial-irradiation ones.

A post-deposition in situ passivation strategy using a multi-functional molecular agent is reported with enhanced colloidal dispersibility of an environmentally-friendly AgBiS₂ nanocrystal ink, achieving a PCE over 10% in a solar cell.