We report an efficient interconnection unit (ICU) consisting of an electron transporting layer/metal/p-doped hole transporting layer (p-HTL) structure for tandem organic photovoltaic (TOPV) cells. The ICU satisfies all the requirements of optical transparency and low voltage loss and for functioning as an optical spacer. The variation of the short circuit current and open circuit voltage (VOC) of the TOPV cells with increasing thickness of the p-HTL in the ICU followed the theoretical predictions, proving that the ICU does not disturb the electrical characteristics of the TOPV cells up to a p-HTL thickness of 100 nm with minimal VOC loss (∼3%).

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A comparative study of microwave and conventional sintering of lead-free Bi 1/2 (Na 0.82 K 0.18 ) 1/2 TiO 3 -BaZrO 3 -CuO ceramics is presented. It was found that microwave sintering (MWS) can be successfully applied to the fabrication of large strain Bi-perovskite with electric field-induced strains comparable to those obtained with conventional sintering (CFS). Although MWS resulted in smaller grained microstructures than CFS, the ferroelectric properties were stronger in MWS-derived specimens than in the CFS-derived ones. The piezoelectric strain constant d 33 * of the CFS-derived specimens reached a maximum value of 372 pm/V after sintering at 1100°C, whereas that of MWS-derived specimens peaked at 950°C with a d 33 * value of 324 pm/V.

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