Two-dimensional (2D) Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites have shown great potential for application in perovskite solar cells due to their appealing environmental stability. However, 2D perovskites generally show poor photovoltaic performance. Here, a new type of 2D perovskite using 2-thiophenemethylammonium (ThMA) as a spacer cation was developed and high photovoltaic performance as well as enhanced stability in comparison with its 3D counterpart was demonstrated. The use of the 2D perovskite (ThMA)(MA) PbI ( n = 3) in deposited highly oriented thin films from N, N-dimethylformamide using a methylammonium chloride (MACl) assisted film-forming technique dramatically improves the efficiency of 2D perovskite photovoltaic devices from 1.74% to over 15%, which is the highest efficiency for 2D perovskite ( n < 6) solar cells so far. The enhanced performance of the 2D perovskite devices using MACl as additive is ascribed to the growth of a dense web of nanorod-like film with near-single-crystalline quality, in which the crystallographic planes of the 2D MA PbI slabs preferentially aligned perpendicular to the substrate, thus facilitating efficient charge transport. This work provides a new insight into exploration of the formation mechanism of 2D perovskites with increased crystallinity and crystal orientation suitable for high-performance solar cells.

Modest exciton diffusion lengths dictate the need for nanostructured bulk heterojunctions in organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells; however, this morphology compromises charge collection. Here, we reveal rapid exciton diffusion in films of a fused-ring electron acceptor that, when blended with a donor, already outperforms fullerene-based OPV cells. Temperature-dependent ultrafast exciton annihilation measurements are used to resolve a quasi-activationless exciton diffusion coefficient of at least 2 × 10–2 cm2/s, substantially exceeding typical organic semiconductors and consistent with the 20–50 nm domain sizes in optimized blends. Enhanced three-dimensional diffusion is shown to arise from molecular and packing factors; the rigid planar molecular structure is associated with low reorganization energy, good transition dipole moment alignment, high chromophore density, and low disorder, all enhancing long-range resonant energy transfer. Relieving exciton diffusion constraints has important implications for OPVs; large, ordered, and pure domains enhance charge separation and transport, and suppress recombination, thereby boosting fill factors. Further enhancements to diffusion lengths may even obviate the need for the bulk heterojunction morphology.

Through adding two substituent phenyl groups on distyrylbenzene, we have obtained the cross stacking of 2,5-diphenyl-1,4-distyrylbenzene with two trans double bonds (trans-DPDSB) in crystalline state. In such a cross-stacking mode, the solid-state emission exhibits high-intensity, having characteristics similar to its single molecule. The organic light-emiiting diodes (OLEDs) with attractive performance have been achieved using trans-DPDSB as a light-emitting layer, and the amplified spontaneous emission of the needlelike crystals has been observed.

A highly photoconductive cathode interlayer was achieved by doping a 1 wt % light absorber, such as perylene bisimide, into a ZnO thin film, which absorbs a very small amount of light but shows highly increased conductivity of 4.50 × 10(-3) S/m under sunlight. Photovoltaic devices based on this kind of photoactive cathode interlayer exhibit significantly improved device performance, which is rather insensitive to the thickness of the cathode interlayer over a broad range. Moreover, a power conversion efficiency as high as 10.5% was obtained by incorporation of our photoconductive cathode interlayer with the PTB7-Th:PC71BM active layer, which is one of the best results for single-junction polymer solar cells.