March 2018

A research team at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) in the Chinese Academy of Sciences synthesized a new lead-free double perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) and revealed the hot-carrier dynamic of it.

To avoid the toxicity issue of Pb, many efforts of finding a possible replacement are made. "We prepared the lead-free 3D double perovskite NCs and demonstrated that the continuously tunable emission ranged from 395 to 575 nm," said the researchers

Today we are happy to publish this short perovskite explanation video, which we believe gives a nice introduction to perovskite materials - their properties, applications and current market status:

If you're interested in using this video in your web site, feel free to embed it!

A new international study led by chemists at the Georgia Institute of Technology has observed that hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) possessed a 'richness' of semiconducting physics created by what could be described as electrons "dancing" on wobbling chemical underpinnings. That contradicts established semiconductors that rely upon rigidly stable chemical foundations, or quieter molecular frameworks, to produce the desired quantum properties. This could mean that HOIPs may be used in the future as semiconductors with nuanced colors emanating from lasers, lamps, and even window glass.

HOIPs have been reported by the team to be quite challenging to examine, but the researchers from a total of five research institutes in four countries succeeded in measuring a prototypical HOIP and found its quantum properties on par with those of established, molecularly rigid semiconductors, many of which are graphene-based. 'We don't know yet how it works to have these stable quantum properties in this intense molecular motion,' said first author Felix Thouin, a graduate research assistant at Georgia Tech. 'It defies physics models we have to try to explain it. It's like we need some new physics.'

An international team of researchers led by the University of Cambridge found that a simple potassium solution could boost the efficiency of perovskite-based solar cells, by enabling them to convert more sunlight into electricity. The addition of potassium iodide seems to have a 'healing' effect on the defects and immobilized ion movement, which to date have limited the efficiency of perovskite solar cells.

Tiny defects in the crystalline structure of perovskites, called traps, can cause electrons to get 'stuck' before their energy can be harnessed. The easier it is for electrons to move around in a solar cell material, the more efficient that material will be at converting photons into electricity. Another issue is that ions can move around in the solar cell when illuminated, which can cause a change in the bandgap ' the color of light the material absorbs.

The recent Silicon PV/nPV conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, saw Solliance's announcement on the achievement of a major milestone in perovskite technology for application in future industrial high efficiency tandem photovoltaic cells and modules. Solliance announced realizing a perovskite cell that combines good cell efficiency with a very high near infrared transparency of 93%.

Also at the conference, ECN shows that when this perovskite cell is mechanically stacked on a 6 inch² silicon bottom cell with its proprietary MWT-SHJ (metal-wrap-through silicon heterojunction) design, 26.3% efficiency is achieved, an increase of 3.6% points over the efficiency of the directly illuminated silicon cell laminate.

Researchers at Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have gained new understanding of the happenings inside a hybrid perovskite material in the first few trillionths of a second after it's hit with simulated sunlight.

The blue and green spheres are atoms. When light hits, electrons start to separate from positively charged 'holes,' the first step in creating an electrical current (yellow streaks). Meanwhile, atoms begin to vibrate within the perovskite's structure.

The research, conducted at the atomic scale, could help explain how electric charges move efficiently through hybrid perovskites following the absorption of light, the crucial first step in generating an electric current. The study used laser pulses that match the intensity of solar radiation, and thus mimic natural sunlight. The authors say their discovery could lead to improvements in the performance of perovskite solar cells and a new way to probe their functionality.

Panasonic and Sekisui Chemical have reportedly developed perovskite-based solar cells that can be attached to walls and curved surfaces.

Panasonic developed a 20cm by 20cm perovskite solar cell. Panels made of these cells can be joined together to create sheets large enough for commercial uses. The company hopes to increase the cells' power generation efficiency to 20%; they are now slightly more than halfway there.

Researchers at Cornell used theoretical techniques to predict that using intense mid-infrared laser light on a titanium perovskite can dynamically induce a magnetic phase transition ' taking the material from its ferromagnetic ground state to a hidden anti-ferromagnetic phase. This dramatic shift could have useful applications, particularly in optical information processing.

'It would be a kind of optical switch,' the researchers said. 'You have a material where it's magnetic and 'non-magnetic.' It's going between those two states with light'.

UK-based Ossila provides components, equipment and materials to enable faster and smarter organic electronics research and discovery. Ossila provides both materials and equipment for perovskite researchers, and the company's lead perovskite scientist, Dr. Jonathan Griffin, was kind enough to answer a few questions we had for him.

Thanks to improved knowledge about salt-solvent interactions, single crystals of perovskites can now be grown. Pictured above are several single-crystal MAPbBr perovskites, alongside the seed crystals used to grow these crystals

Dr. Griffin holds nearly a decade of experience working in organic photovoltaic research and over 5 years of working with perovskites. At Ossila, Jonathan works on technical support for several material ranges, including perovskites, organic photovoltaics, graphene and other 2-D materials. He is also involved in the development of new test equipment and product ranges. Prior to this, he worked in a postdoctoral research position at the University of Sheffield.

Q: Thank you for your time Dr. Griffin. Can you detail for us Ossila's perovskite product range in general?

University of Alberta scientists have found calcium silicate perovskite at Earth's surface. "Nobody has ever managed to keep this mineral stable at the Earth's surface," said Graham Pearson, a professor in the University of Alberta's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate. He explained the mineral is found deep inside Earth's mantle, at 700 kilometers.

"The only possible way of preserving this mineral at the Earth's surface is when it's trapped in an unyielding container like a diamond," he explained. "Based on our findings, there could be as much as zetta tonnes (10²¹) of this perovskite in deep Earth".