January 2021

Hunt Perovskite Technologies (HPT) recently announced the publication of its scientific article, jointly written with Colorado School of Mines and the United States Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

In the article, the scientists identify and analyze the importance of perovskite thin film stoichiometry to its durability and the possible mechanisms that lead to rapid degradation of certain perovskite materials designed for use in the manufacture of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. Their results provide key insights into ways to improve the fundamental durability and stability of perovskite PV modules.

A research team at NUST MISIS and the University of Tor Vergata recently presented an improved structure of perovskite solar cells. The scientists modified perovskite-based solar cells using MXenes ' thin two-dimensional titanium carbides with high electrical conductivity. The MXenes-based modified cells reportedly showed superior performance, with power conversion efficiency exceeding 19% (the reference demonstrated 17%) and improved stabilized power output with respect to reference devices.

'In this work, we demonstrate a useful role of MXenes doping both for the photoactive layer (perovskite) and for the electron transport layer (fullerenes) in the structure of solar cells based on nickel oxide,' said the co-author of the paper, a researcher from the NUST MISIS Laboratory for Advanced Solar Energy, post-graduate student Anastasia Yakusheva. 'On the one hand, the addition of MXenes helps to align the energy levels at the perovskite/fullerene interface, and, on the other hand, it helps to control the concentration of defects in the thin-film device, and improves the collection of photocurrent.'

A research team from the Okinawa Institute of Technology (OIST) in Japan has developed a mini perovskite solar module based on large'area uniform and dense perovskite films with a thickness of more than one'micrometer.

The scientists fabricated two modules, sized 5x5cm² and 10x10cm², with efficiencies of 14.55% and 10.25%, respectively, which reportedly rely on perovskite layers with high crystallinity, large grain sizes, and small surface roughness.

A research group, led by Prof. HAN Keli from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, recently revealed the luminescence enhancement mechanism of a series of new lead-free quadruple halide perovskite nanocrystals, and prepared high-performance photodetectors.

The researchers reported a series of quadruple perovskite colloidal nanocrystals with ordered vacancies. By alloying Cs₄MnBi₂Cl₁₂ nanocrystals, the fluorescence quantum yield could be increased by nearly 100 times.

In a study announced last August, researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) reached an impressive 21.6% efficiency, which they said is the highest achieved for perovskite cells above a certain size. The details of their work, and the techniques used by the research team to achieve the results, have now been explained.

Lead researcher, associate professor Tom White, said the research team achieved the new record by adapting a technique previously used with traditional silicon-based solar cells that removed defects. 'A common problem with solar cells is that any defects in the cell can trap electrons, taking away the energy they gained by absorbing sunlight,' associate professor White said. 'A way around this is to 'passivate' the surface by coating the light absorbing material with a thin layer of another material to reduce defects. But the materials used to reduce defects are often poor conductors of electricity.'

Scientists at Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have used a novel method, based pressure from a diamond anvil cell, to stabilize lead halide perovskites and prevent them from breaking down at room temperature.

The team placed the regular version of the material, prone to instability, in a diamond anvil cell and squeezed it at a high temperature. This treatment reportedly "nudges" its atomic structure into an efficient configuration and keeps it that way, even at room temperature and in relatively moist air.

Researchers from Spain and Colombia have examined the degradation mechanisms affecting perovskite solar cells, and developed a new method to characterize their performance in an outdoor setting.

The group evaluated the method through outdoor testing on perovskite modules manufactured in a lab. The team expects its findings to offer easier device characterization and better understanding of the degradation mechanisms affecting perovskite solar cells, which are crucial factors in the technology's development.

A research team, led by University of Minnesota Professor K. Andre Mkhoyan, has made a discovery that blends the best of two sought-after qualities for touchscreens and smart windows'transparency and conductivity.

The atomic arrangement of both the BaSnO3 crystal and the metallic line defect. Image credit UMN

The researchers have observed metallic lines in a perovskite crystal. Perovskites are abundant in the Earth's center, and barium stannate (BaSnO₃) is one such crystal. However, it has not been studied extensively for metallic properties because of the prevalence of more conductive materials like metals or semiconductors. The finding was made using advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM), a technique that can form images with magnifications of up to 10 million.

Energy Materials Corporation (EMC), developer of high-speed roll-to-roll manufacturing of solar energy panels, recently announced that it has developed an enabling process to print transparent conductors as part of the scale-up of its inline manufacturing process.

Roll-to-roll printing of metal conductors on Corning Willow Glass (flexible glass) at 60 meters per minute reportedly sets a world speed record for printing flexible electronics on glass. The process surpasses the company's goal of achieving less than 5% loss in the transmission of light though the conductive layer.

Researchers from China have found that adding capsaicin, the molecule that makes chili peppers spicy, could improve perovskite-based solar cells' efficiency and stability.

"Considering the electric, chemical, optical, and stable properties of capsaicin, we preliminarily found that it would be a promising candidate," said Qinye Bao, senior author of the study. However, they needed to do some testing to find the ideal recipe. The researchers found, after executing their experiments, that 0.1 percent capsaicin by weight added to a MAPbl₃ perovskite precursor provided benefits.