May 2022

Scientists from Imperial College London, the University of Surrey, the University of Nottingham, research institute UCL, Switzerland-based Fluxim and London South Bank University have designed a perovskite solar cell that integrates a ferrocene co-mediator interlayer at the interface between the spiro-OMeTAD hole transport layer (HTL) and the active perovskite material.

The team noted that the migration of lithium is critical in the degradation of spiro-OMeTAD-based devices, which is accelerated at higher temperatures, leading to the rapid degradation of the perovskite. The scientists described ferrocene as a sandwich structured material that is highly stable and can be used as a low-cost transition metal complex.

Researchers from Chonnam National University in South Korea, Shivaji University in India, the Belgian research institute KU Leuven and Cardiff University in the UK have built an all-inorganic perovskite solar cell with a terbium doped solar absorber, which reportedly increases thermal stability.

The scientists developed a low-cost and simple hot-air method and also used terbium doping and quantum passivation techniques to stabilize the perovskite phase in the ambient conditions - with all processes carried out in ambient conditions.

Scientists at Russia's NUST MISiS, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the Russian Academy of Sciences, RTU MIREA and Italy's CHOSE (Centre of Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy) have developed a halide perovskite-based material for use in high-speed and highly sensitive ionizing radiation detectors.

Perovskite responds to ionizing radiation in the form of light (luminescence) or current (as a photodiode). This is useful for high-speed and high-sensitivity components for high-energy particle registration. However, the structures inside the collider are exposed to high doses of radiation, which can damage them. Accordingly, components of ionizing radiation detectors must be resistant to such effects and retain their properties for a long time.

Here are some recent and popular news that you may find of interest:

• Researchers develop a method to achieve large-area efficient perovskite LEDs
• NREL team highlights the potential of perovskites for renewable hydrogen production
• EPFL team develops tandem solar cells with 29.2% efficiency
• When will perovskite solar panels hit the market?
• Tandem PV secures financing to build a pilot manufacturing facility
• TENG+Perovskite solar cell generates electricity from both sunlight and falling raindrops
• Oxford PV completes build-out of its Brandenburg factory
• Researchers demonstrate how graphene can improve perovskite solar cells
• Perovskite Solar Panel efficiency, current market status
• Researchers bring perovskite solar cells with inverted architecture to 23.7% efficiency
• HZB sets new 29.8% efficiency record for perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells
• CubicPV plans $1.1 billion investment under India's PLI scheme
• JinkoSolar announces a 30% perovskite cell technology platform
• Saule Technologies launches its production line of perovskite solar panels

Researchers from the UK's University of Cambridge and Diamond Light Source, working with scientists from Japan's Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), have found that the defects which limit the efficiency of perovskites are also responsible for structural changes in the material that lead to degradation.

In their work, the researchers used a combination of techniques to mimic the process of aging under sunlight and observe changes in the materials at the nanoscale, helping them gain new insights into the materials. Their findings could accelerate the development of long-lasting, commercially available perovskite photovoltaics.

Researchers from the University of the Basque, University of Trieste and the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA) have managed to improve the stability and power conversion efficiency of a solar cell based on methylammonium (MA)-formamidinium (FA) lead halide perovskite, by using graphitic and amorphous nitrogen-doped carbon dots (g-N-CDs) as an additive.

In their study, the team set out to examine the influence of carbon dot additives on he efficiency and stability of PSCs. They found that the stability of the g-N-CDs-containing cells was improved. The long-term evaluation of the performances of the cells showed improvement of the power conversion efficiency of the g-N-CDs-containing cells over time, up to 109% of the initial efficiency after 40 days while the reference performance without CDs dropped to 86%.

A research team at Seoul National University, led by Prof. Tae-Woo Lee, has developed highly efficient large-area perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) with an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 22.5% and pixel size of 102 mm².

Professor Tae-Woo Lee's research team developed the scalable coating method of perovskite nanocrystals to make uniform large-area emitting films that helped fabricate these highly efficient large-area PeLEDs.

Saule Technologies and Columbus Energy have partnered with Google Cloud, signing a strategic cooperation agreement to develop new products using perovskite solar cells and solutions in the field of distributed energy and IoT (Internet of Things). Google Cloud will also become a strategic partner of both companies, providing cloud computing services and technologies.

The concept behind IoT is to connect a variety of often small and highly-specialized electronic devices in a network so that they can generate and send information to each other. However, such devices require power and this has greatly limited their potential applications to date. The perovskite solar cells developed by Saule Technologies are not only lightweight, thin and flexible, but they are also able to perform well even in artificial light. These unique advantages make Saule Technologies cells "the perfect energy source for all kinds of IoT devices in virtually all conditions, regardless of power grid availability", according to the Company's statement.

EneCoat Technologies has secured an investment from Global Brain, through its JGC MIRAI Innovation Fund.

EneCoat recently received additional investments from SPARX Group's Mirai Creation Fund III and Mitsubishi Materials and NGK Insulators.

Researchers at ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and Empa have developed a novel concept for a perovskite-based memristor that can be used in a far wider range of applications than existing memristors.

“There are different operation modes for memristors, and it is advantageous to be able to use all these modes depending on an artificial neural network’s architecture,” explains ETH postdoc Rohit John. “But previous conventional memristors had to be configured for one of these modes in advance.” The new memristors can now switch between two operation modes while in use: a mode in which the signal grows weaker over time and dies (volatile mode), and one in which the signal remains constant (non-​volatile mode).