Researchers from City University of Hong Kong, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Imperial College London have improved the long-term stability of perovskite solar cells with an atomic-layer deposition (ALD) method that replaces the fullerene electron transport layer with tin oxide. 

Professor Zhu Zonglong (left) and Dr Gao Danpeng of City University of Hong Kong hold their innovative solar cells. Image credit: Eurekalert

The team started by depositing the perovskite and the hole-transporter layer in a single step. Then, they used ALD to create an oxygen-deficient tin oxide layer to reduce the band offset to a thicker, overgrown layer of normal tin oxide. Solar cells had a power conversion efficiency of more than 25%, and they retained more than 95% of efficiency after 2000 hours of maximum power point operations at 65°C. 

Researchers from Thailand's Mahidol University, Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi and Synchrotron Light Research Institute have presented two novel air-stable hole transporting materials (HTMs) based on a spiro[fluorene-9,9′-xanthene] (SFX) core functionalized with N-methylcarbazole (XC2-M) and N-hexylcarbazole (XC2-H) rings. 

These HTMs were synthesized via a straightforward, three-step process with good overall yields (∼40%) and low production costs. To further reduce device cost, carbon back electrodes were employed. The resulting PSCs, with a structure of FTO/SnO₂/Cs_0.05FA_0.73MA_0.22Pb(I_0.77Br_0.23)₃/HTM/C, achieved power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 13.5% (XC2-M) and 10.2% (XC2-H), comparable to the reference spiro-OMeTAD device (12.2%). 

Researchers from Sweden's Chalmers University of Technology recently gained new insights into the dynamics of prototypical 2D halide perovskites (HPs) based on MAPbI₃ as a function of linker molecule and the number of perovskite layers using atomic-scale simulations.

The team showed that the layers closest to the linker undergo transitions that are distinct from those of the interior layers. These transitions can take place anywhere between a few tens of Kelvin degrees below and more than 100 K above the cubic–tetragonal transition of bulk MAPbI₃. 

Together with his collaborators at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and Technical University of Berlin, Dr. Felix Lang from the University of Potsdam previously launched perovskite tandem solar cells into space to test their performance with extreme radiation levels and temperature cycles. Recently, he successfully received the first data from his experiment.

July 9, 2024 was the day of the maiden launch of the new Ariane 6 rocket from Guiana Space Centre by ESA. On-board a satellite was a special solar cell experiment. The satellite itself was successfully released one hour and six minutes after launch. “The solar cells have survived launch and started to produce energy, even without perfect alignment to the sun,” says Felix Lang, who celebrates this first success with his junior research group at the chair of Prof. Dr. Dieter Neher, funded by a Freigeist-Fellowship of the Volkswagen Foundation.

Jiangsu Xiehang Energy Technology (Fellow Energy/Xiehang Energy), a holding company of Turkey’s Chen Solar photovoltaic module and smart device manufacturer, has announced its plan to build a perovskite solar cell and module factory in Sichuan Province, China.

Fellow Energy had negotiated with the local government of Dechang County, Sichuan Province, for the construction of the project. It plans to build a solar cell factory to produce 2GW of perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells and 5GW of high-efficiency solar modules annually upon completion of the facility.

Researchers at North Carolina State University and Brookhaven National Laboratory have reported a technique for engineering layered hybrid perovskites (LHPs) down to the atomic level, which enables precise control on how the materials convert electrical charge into light. 

Image credit: Matter

The technique opens the door to engineering materials tailored for use in next-generation printed LEDs, lasers and photovoltaic devices.

Interface engineering plays a significant role in the constant improvement in the performance of perovskite photovoltaics, but such devices still suffer from several issues, including unavoidable open circuit voltage (VOC) losses. Now, an international team of researchers from Università Degli Studi Di Pavia, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), University of Cambridge, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Slovak Academy of Sciences and Imperial College London have proposed a different approach by creating a photo-ferroelectric perovskite interface. 

Graphical representation of the 2D/3D/2D perovskite heterostructure. Image from: Nature Communications

By engineering an ultrathin ferroelectric two-dimensional perovskite (2D) which sandwiches a perovskite bulk, the scientists exploited the electric field generated by external polarization in the 2D layer to enhance charge separation and minimize interfacial recombination. As a result, they observed a net gain in the device VOC reaching 1.21 V, the highest value reported to date for highly efficient perovskite PVs, leading to a champion efficiency of 24%. 

As an increasing amount of multimodal sensors are used in intelligent electronics, energy expenditure gets more massive. Consequently, researchers aim to develop efficient computing paradigms or integrate energy harvesting from ambient sources. Halide perovskites possess unique photophysics and coupled ionic-electronic dynamics that actualize memory devices for brain-inspired computing. Synergizing the computing capability with their conventional light harvesting efficacy could address this issue. 

Researchers from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University and Hong Kong's City University of Hong Kong recently examined the use of halide perovskite photovoltaics for in-sensor reservoir computing (RC). 

Two-dimensional Ruddlesden-Popper (2DRP) phase perovskites have excellent long-term environmental and structure stability. However, the efficiency of 2DRP perovskite solar cells (PSCs) still lags behind that of their 3D counterparts due to the large exciton binding energy between the large-volume organic spacer and the inorganic plate compared to their 3D analogs.

To address this issue, researchers from China's Northwestern Polytechnical University and Xijing University have used a thin layer of self-assembled monolayer material between the transporting layer and the perovskite film for efficient and stable 2DRP-based PSCs. 

Reports suggest that RenShine Solar has completed the construction of its 1.2 MW perovskite rooftop distributed power station. The plant is reportedly generating power and was connected to the grid on September 29. 

The company says the plant’s power generation exceeded 3,000 kWh/day on its first day.