Green light for PeroCUBE project for perovskite-based wearables

EU H2020-funded project PeroCUBE aims at developing flexible, lightweight perovskite-based electronics, creating new commercial opportunities for the lighting, energy and telecom industries. Coordinated by the Swiss CSEM, this consortium brings together 14 industrial and academic partners from 10 European countries.

PeroCUBE has two main objectives: producing efficient, simple and low-cost light sources closer to natural light sources and supporting the development of more stable and low-cost solar panels. By combining these promising technologies, PeroCUBE seeks to develop a new generation of Visual Light Communication (VLC) and LiFi (light fidelity) standard, widening the scope for human centric lighting (HCL), data transmission, wearables and IOT applications that do not cause harm to humans nor the environment.

The project will take the development of perovskite-based opto-electronic devices one step further, according to Dr. Sylvain Nicolay, head of the coating sector at CSEM: 'PeroCUBE develops large area lighting panels (PeLEDs) which offer distributed lighting in line with the human-centric lighting concept; such devices surpass OLEDs in terms of performance over cost ratio and will assist the European industry to maintain industrial leadership in lighting.' This will open new doors for the industry, Dr. Nicolay adds: 'PeroCUBE will support the demonstration that the specific class of perovskite materials can indeed be used in commercial objects such as lighting panels and wearable devices.'

Coordinated by CSEM, the project consortium counts on partners' excellence in commercializing lighting fixtures and novel communication schemes (LiFi). This innovative collaboration, which engages the industry, academia and research organizations, represents the whole value chain and breeding ground needed to develop a new generation of perovskite-based devices. Already seen as a promising game-changer for the energy sector, this European consortium will allow the demonstration of the technology's viability as a commercial product. The project will last 42 months for a total requested EU contribution of EUR 5.6 Million.

Alpes Lasers, the second Swiss partner in the consortium, will develop the laser source. "IR light is used to analyze the behavior of perovskite surfaces during the manufacturing process," explains Dr. Antoine MÃ¼ller, CEO of Alpes Lasers. "We are really excited that through this project our laser is contributing to a more sustainable and integrated future."

The project represents a further progress for CSEM, which in addition to the existing PV activity, will also work on perovskite light transmitters for the first time.