Recent Advances in the Applications of Elemental Two-dimensional Materials and Their Derivatives Serving as Transport Layers in Solar Cells

Owing to the rapid increase of world population and the energy used by per person, the total electricity consuming is growing even more quickly in modem society than before. Among various green energy technologies, photovoltaic power generation is undoubtedly a very promising technology. Although the traditional silicon-based solar cells have made great progress, there is still a gap of the cost performance between silicon photovoltaics and the traditional energy. Therefore, it is urgent to develop low-cost and high-efficiency solar cells. However, the application of new-type solar cells has been double tested by poor stability and relatively low efficiency. Interestingly, elemental two-dimensional (2D) materials and their derivatives have also attracted much attention due to their excellent chemical and physical properties. The integration of elemental 2D materials into solar cells has also been widely studied and the positive effects can be obviously observed. In this review, we show the development of nanoscale elemental 2D materials served as transport layers in solar cells, which have gained prominence improvement in terms of efficiency and been proved to be a new platform for further promising technology to meet the energy demands in modern society. Then the critical challenges and prospects for using of elemental 2D materials in solar cells are addressed.

Automated summary

This article discusses the application of elemental 2D materials in solar cells, pointing out that they have made significant progress in improving efficiency and showcasing the development trend as transport layers. This technology provides new hope for meeting the energy demands in modern society.