The continuous research on electronics, biocompatible materials and nanomaterials has led to the design of a new generation of wearable devices that can be employed in direct contact with the body of the user, which is attractive for real-time, non-invasive health monitoring. For the satisfaction of such requirements, hydrogel-based conductive devices are often proposed as promising candidates for these applications, thanks to their softness, flexibility, and biocompatibility.
Here we report the synthesis of conductive hybrid hydrogels containing two-dimensional (2D) MoS2. The nanoflakes are integrated in the polymeric matrix creating an anisotropic structure, which helps to generate mismatch stress for a strain sensing under a certain stimulus, thus allowing the gel to give an electrical response to pressure.
The need for self-powered electronics is progressively growing in parallel to the flourishing of the Internet of Things (IoT). Although batteries are dominating as powering devices, other small systems are attracting attention, such as piezoelectrics, thermoelectrics and photovoltaics. These last ones can be adapted from their classical outdoor configuration to work preferentially under indoor illumination, i.e. through the harvesting of the spectrum emitted by LEDs and/or fluorescent lamps. While lead- based halide perovskites cannot represent a valuable solution for this scope, due to the strong environmental and health concerns associated to the presence of Pb, analogous compounds based on the heaviest pnictogen, i.e. bismuth, could work as sustainable light-harvesters for indoor photovoltaic devices.
In this contribution, we will show our most recent results obtained from the integration of the double perovskite Cs2AgBiBr6 in carbon-based perovskite solar cells, devices characterized by a high degree of sustanaibility, also due to the use of recycled materials within the carbon electrodes.
Perovskite solar cells based on alternatives to lead halide perovskites still present practical drawbacks related to the poor environmental stability (the tin-based ones) and the low power conversion efficiencies that they provide (the bismuth-based ones). The silver-bismuth double perovskite (Ag-Bi DP) is an interesting platform onto which to develop novel concepts for photovoltaic devices since, although presenting very poor optoelectronic properties, it features an excellent stability and is based on relatively a-toxic elements.[1] Its absorption features are hypsochromically shifted in comparison to those of classical lead iodide perovskites and they are more suitable to absorb photons coming from LED lamps, therefore for indoor photovoltaics, which could be exploited to power the IoT, for example.[2] In this context particularly, devices delivering relatively low-power can still have an economical impact, particularly if their costs of production are kept low. Herein we report on the development of Ag-Bi DP solar cells where the classical HTM and top (gold) electrode have been replaced by a carbon-black electrode processed from pure isopropanol though high-throughput ultrasonic spray-coating.[3] The carbon material in the electrode is obtained from the recycling of tires waste through the application of a hydrothermal process, which opens up further relevant perspectives for circularity. Although PCEs in the fabricated devices remain below the 1% threshold, we obtain remarkably high open circuit voltages (up to 1.2 V) from these architectures. This approach may represent a valuable solution for the future large scale production of sustainable photovoltaic devices to power the IoT.
This conference presentation was prepared for the Physical Chemistry of Semiconductor Materials and Interfaces XXI conference at SPIE Optics + Photonics 2022.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.