With the rapid development of organic-inorganic lead halide perovskite photovoltaics, increasingly more attentions are paid to explore the growth mechanism and precisely control the quality of perovskite films. In this study, we propose a "stitching effect" to fabricate high quality perovskite films by using chlorobenzene (CB) as an anti-solvent and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) as an additive into this anti-solvent. Because of the existence of IPA, CB can be efficiently released from the gaps of perovskite precursors and the perovskite film formation can be slightly modified in a controlled manner. More homogeneous surface morphology and larger grain size of perovskite films were achieved via this process. The reduced grain boundaries ensure low surface defect density and good carrier transport in the perovskite layer. Meanwhile, we also performed the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to investigate the film growth mechanism of unannealed and annealed perovskite films. Solar cells fabricated by using the "stitching effect" exhibited a best efficiency of 19.2%. Our results show that solvent and solvent additives dramatically influenced the formation and crystallization processes for perovskite materials due to their different coordination and extraction capabilities. This method presents a new path towards controlling the growth and morphology of perovskite films.

While most work carried out to date has focused on the solvent annealing of perovskite, in the present work, we focused on the solvent annealing of lead iodide. Based on the two-step spin-coating method, we designed a screening method to search for an effective solvent annealing process for PbI. PbI films were annealed in diverse solvent atmospheres, including DMF, DMSO, acetone, and isopropanol (IPA). We found that the solvent annealing of PbI in the DMF, acetone, and IPA atmospheres resulted in dense PbI films, which impeded the complete conversion of PbI to CHNHPbI. Surprisingly, employing the DMSO solvent annealing process for PbI led to porous PbI, which facilitated the complete conversion of PbI to perovskite with larger grain sizes. Solar cells fabricated using the DMSO solvent annealing process exhibited the best efficiency of 18.5%, with a fill factor of 76.5%. This unique solvent annealing method presents a new way of controlling the perovskite film quality for highly efficient solar cells.

PCE of perovskite solar cells based on Fe3+-doped compact TiO2 is improved from 16.02% to 18.60%.

Despite the high power conversion efficiency, the severe performance degradation of organic-inorganic lead halide perovskite solar cells caused by moisture and thermal phase transition is an obstacle to commercialization of the perovskite solar cells. We propose the theoretical lifetime extraction of perovskite solar cells with a mixed-cations lead halide perovskite absorber containing CH3NH3 + , CH3(NH2)2 + and Cs +. The estimated mean time to failure (MTTF) of the triple cation perovskite solar cells is up to 180 days in ambient. Compared with the perovskite solar cells based on CH3NH3PbI3, the triple-cation perovskite solar cells, whose power conversion efficiency reaches 18.2% in this study, have a much better performance in terms of thermal stability and humidity stability. Improvements of both performance and stability pave the way for commercialization of perovskite solar cells.

With dodecanol (C12OH) as a model molecule of insect sex pheromone as core material, natural polymers gelatin (GE) and acacia gum (AG) as wall materials, microcapsules aiming to be a sprayable environment-friendly pesticide were prepared via GE simple coacervation and complex coacervation of GE and AG. C12OH encapsulation in complex coacervation was higher than those in simple coacervation. Its encapsulation was enhanced with increase in wall material cross-linking. C12OH release revealed that samples from simple coacervation reached their end in 7 days, whereas those from complex coacervation manifested a quick release followed by a constant release. With increase in wall material cross-linking, the release was slowed down. SEM observation confirmed that core-shell morphology existed in the capsules.