A transparent electrode with a transparent substrate and a composite layer disposed thereon, wherein the composite layer includes a graphene layer and a plurality of nanoparticles, wherein the nanoparticles are embedded in the graphene layer and extend through a thickness of the graphene layer, and wherein the plurality of nanoparticles are in direct contact with the transparent substrate and a gap is present between the graphene layer and the transparent substrate.

A method for making a layered perovskite structure comprises: a) performing a vapor assisted surface treatment (VAST) of a substrate with a surface passivating agent; b) applying a layer of PbI.sub.2 to the passivating agent; c) exposing the PbI.sub.2 to methylammonium iodide (CH.sub.3NH.sub.3I) in an orthogonal solvent; and d) annealing the structure. A PEDOT:PSS coated ITO glass substrate may be used. The surface passivation agent may be one a chalcogenide-containing species with the general chemical formula (E.sub.3E.sub.4)N(E.sub.1E.sub.2)N′C═X where any one of E.sub.1, E.sub.2, E.sub.3 and E.sub.4 is independently selected from C1-C15 organic substituents comprising from 0 to 15 heteroatoms or hydrogen, and X is S, Se or Te, thiourea, thioacetamide, selenoacetamide, selenourea, H.sub.2S, H.sub.2Se, H.sub.2Te or LXH wherein L is a C.sub.n organic substituent comprising heteroatoms and X═S, Se, or Te. The passivating agent may be applied by spin-coating, inkjet-printing, slot-die-coating, aerosol-jet printing, PVD, CVD, and electrochemical deposition.

A dye-sensitized solar panel includes a titanium nanoparticle layer and a plant-derived photo-sensitizer supported on the titanium nanoparticle layer. The photo-sensitizer can be extracted from chard (the cicla cultivar group of B. vulgaris subsp. cicla), and the titanium nanoparticle layer includes titanium nanoparticles synthesized using henna (Lawsonia inermis). The titanium nanoparticle layer can, in addition to titanium nanoparticles, include zinc oxide nanoparticles.

The present invention is a photovoltaic-thermoelectric solar cell and a method of manufacturing a photovoltaic-thermoelectric solar cell. The solar cell includes a substantially transparent electrode, an organometallic photovoltaic material disposed on the transparent electrode, and a cathode disposed on the organometallic photovoltaic material. The organometallic photovoltaic material may be a porphyrin nanomaterial.

The present invention relates to the doping of organic semiconductors and processes for producing layers of p-doped organic semiconductors. Disclosed is a process for p-doping organic semiconductors comprising treating the organic semiconductor with an oxidized salt of the organic semiconductor. A process for producing a layer of a p-doped organic semiconductor comprising producing a p-doped organic semiconductor by treating the organic semiconductor with an oxidized salt of the organic semiconductor; disposing a composition comprising a solvent and the p-doped organic semiconductor on a substrate; and removing the solvent is also described. Also disclosed is a process for producing a layer of a p-doped organic semiconductor comprising: disposing a composition comprising a solvent, the organic semiconductor and a protic ionic liquid on a substrate; and removing the solvent. A process for producing a semiconductor device comprising a process for doping an organic semiconductor according to the invention is also described. Finally, a high purity p-dopant composition is described.

A method of growing a III-V semiconductor compound film for a semiconductor device including the steps of depositing a textured oxide buffer layer on an inexpensive substrate, depositing a metal-inorganic film from a eutectic alloy on the buffer layer, the metal being a component of a III-V compound and forming a layer on the inorganic film on which additional elements from the III-V compound are added, forming a top layer of a tandem solar cell.

The invention relates to the use of halogenated histidine derivatives as electrolyte salts in the preparation of an electrolyte composition in a photoelectrochemical cell based on the sensitization to light of photoactive molecules, and also to a photoelectrochemical cell based on the sensitization to light of photoactive molecules comprising an electrolyte composition comprising at least one halogenated histidine derivative as electrolyte salt.

An electrochemical reaction device includes: an electrolytic solution tank including a first storage part storing a first electrolytic solution and a second storage part storing a second electrolytic solution; a reduction electrode immersed in the first electrolytic solution; and an oxidation electrode immersed in the second electrolytic solution. The second electrolytic solution contains a substance to be oxidized. The first electrolytic solution has a first liquid phase containing water and a second liquid phase containing an organic solvent and being in contact with the first liquid phase. At least one liquid phase of the first liquid phase or the second liquid phase contains a substance to be reduced and is in contact with the reduction electrode.

Disclosed is an electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cell element, which contains a halogen, a halide salt, and a basic substance and in which a redox pair is formed by the halogen and the halide salt, the halogen and the halide salt have the same halogen atom, and the basic substance contains a first imidazole compound constituted by a benzimidazole compound and a second imidazole compound represented by the following formula (1), in which a volume molar concentration C.sub.2 of the second imidazole compound is lower than a volume molar concentration C.sub.1 of the first imidazole compound:

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(in the formula (1), R.sup.1 to R.sup.4 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a hydrocarbon group having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms or the like. R.sup.5 and R.sup.6 each independently represent an aliphatic hydrocarbon group or the like).

The present invention generally relates to artificial photosystems and methods of their use, for example in artificial photosynthesis, wherein the artificial photosystems comprise one or more light-harvesting antenna (LHA) comprising a conjugated polyelectrolyte (CPE) complex (CPEC) comprising a donor CPE and an acceptor CPE, wherein the donor CPE and acceptor CPE are an electronic energy transfer (EET) donor/acceptor pair.