Technical / research - Page 12

Researchers at CHOSE (Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy) at University of Rome ‘‘Tor Vergata’’ and Solertix (affiliated with Italy-based solar manufacturer FuturaSun) have reported reduced yield losses in cell-to-module scaling by utilizing ultranarrow interconnection of 19.5 μm. 

In addition, the proposed interconnection technique may be used to achieve a 30% efficiency in area-matched 4T tandem designs featuring a perovskite module over a silicon cell.

Researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energies (HI ERN) have developed a new recycling method for MAPbI₃ perovskite solar cells that uses a layer-by-layer solvent extraction technique. This process has shown the potential to recycle up to 99.97% of the material, aiming to reduce waste and conserve resources. 

The technique involves separating each layer of the solar cell, followed by processes to purify or modify the materials so they can be reused.

Researchers from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) and Institute for Basic Science (IBS) have developed a perovskite-based camera, inspired by the structures and functions of birds' eyes, specializing in object detection. 

Schematic illustration showing the visual ecology of birds. Image from Science Robotics

The eyes of different organisms in the natural world have evolved and been optimized to suit their habitat and the environment in which they survive. As a result of countless years of evolutionary adaptation to the environment of living and flying at high altitudes, bird eyes also have unique structures and visual functions. In the retina of an animal's eye, there is a small pit called the fovea that refracts the light entering the eye. Unlike the shallow foveae found in human eyes, bird eyes have deep central foveae, which refract the incoming light to a large extent. The region of the highest cone density lies within the foveae, allowing the birds to clearly perceive distant objects through magnification. This specialized vision is known as foveated vision.

Protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) have attracted much attention lately. These devices do not operate via the conduction of oxide ions (O²⁻) but light protons (H⁺) with smaller valence. A key feature of PCFCs is their ability to function at low and intermediate temperatures in the range of 50–500 °C. However, PCFCs based on perovskite electrolytes reported thus far suffer from low proton conductivity at low and intermediate temperatures.

A research team, led by Professor Masamoto Yashima from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), in collaboration with High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), has set out to address this limitation of perovskite-based proton conductors. 

Researchers from China's Ningbo University and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have developed a universal thermal reduction method to convert spent cobalt-based perovskites into high-performance bifunctional oxygen catalysts for zinc-air batteries (ZABs), achieving high-efficient Cobalt (Co) recovery and re-utilization. 

Cobalt is widely used in energy storage and conversion devices, although its content on our planet is not sufficient. Therefore, recycling it from spent Co-enriched materials is very valuable. Co-based perovskites, which contain abundant Co, are extensively utilized in solid oxide fuel cells, three-way catalysts, and oxygen-permeable membranes, and the recovery of Co from the spent Co-based perovskites is necessary to meet the long-term requirement of Co.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with Japan's Yamagata University, developed three isomeric bisphosphonate-anchored self-assembled molecules (SAMs) to achieve highly efficient and stable inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs).

The wettability, absorbability and compactness of SAMs, which are used as hole-transporting layers (HTLs) for PSCs, critically affect the efficiency and stability of the devices. Therefore, the researchers proposed a molecular strategy to synthesize three bisphosphonate-anchored indolocarbazole (IDCz)-derived SAMs, namely IDCz-1, IDCz-2, and IDCz-3. The three SAMs with different positions of the two nitrogen atoms in the IDCz unit were each employed on conductive oxide substrates for inverted PSCs.

Researchers from China's Southwest Petroleum University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Chongqing University, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology and Tongwei Solar have designed a perovskite solar cell with remarkable perovskite film quality through the 'self-disintegrating seed' strategy. The device achieved both an impressive fill factor values and remarkable stability.

The researchers, in fact, report what they say is one of the highest fill factor values ever achieved for a perovskite solar cell, by reducing its nonradiative recombination and residual stress through what they called a self-disintegrating seed strategy.

Researchers at China's Qingdao University of Science and Technology and Canada's University of Toronto have developed a thermal regulation strategy by incorporating carboranes into perovskites to improve the performance of inverted tin-lead perovskite tech for all-perovskite tandem solar cells. 

The Chinese-Canadian research group has designed a monolithic all-perovskite tandem solar cell that utilizes a top inverted perovskite PV device based on an absorber made with mixed tin-lead (Sn-Pb) perovskite via the newly developed thermal regulation strategy.

Researchers from China's Beihang University and Changchun University of Technology have developed a new surface engineering strategy to build low-cost solar cells without a hole transport layer. The devices were treated with benzoylcholine halide to reduce non-radiation recombination and achieved impressive efficiency and stability.

The research group developed a carbon-based all-inorganic perovskite solar cell without the use of an expensive hole transport layer (HTL). In the proposed cell architecture, the absence of the HTL, which prevents direct contact between the carbon electrode and the perovskite, is compensated by engineering the surface composition of the perovskite film. ”The bipolar transport of the perovskite layer and the hole extraction ability of the carbon electrode provide a theoretical basis for the preparation of HTL-free CsPbI₂Br carbon-based all-inorganic perovskite solar cells,” the researchers said in their study.

Researchers from China's Hangzhou Dianzi University and Jiaxing University have developed a strategy for optimizing the bottom region of perovskite solar cells and designed an inverted perovskite solar cell using the new strategy. The proposed cell was treated with two molecules known as 2-mercaptoimidazole and 2-mercaptobenzimidazole and was based on a hole transport layer relying on a self-assembled monolayer.

“The HTLs prepared with SAM materials not only have negligible parasitic absorption, low material consumption, and stable adhesion but also exhibit inherent passivation of defects on the bottom of perovskites,” the research team explained.