Technical / research - Page 35

Researchers from North Carolina State University and CNRS have reported room-temperature superfluorescence in hybrid perovskite thin films. 

Their work shows that in this material platform, there exists an extremely strong immunity to electronic dephasing due to thermal processes. To explain this observation, the team proposed that the formation of large polarons in hybrid perovskites provides a quantum analogue of vibration isolation to electronic excitation and protects it against dephasing even at room temperature. 

A research team led by Imec, that also included teams from Hasselt University and Kuwait University, has fabricated a perovskite solar module based on a scalable, stable device stack that can be processed with industry-compatible techniques, such as sputtering, evaporation, and slot-die coating.

The panel is based on 17%-efficient perovskite solar cells built with a p-i-n configuration, an electron transport layer made of nickel(II) oxide (NiOx), a perovskite layer deposited via slot-die coating, an electron transport layer made of buckminsterfullerene (C60) and lithium fluoride (LiF), a bathocuproine (BCP) buffer layer, and a copper (Cu) electrode.

Researchers from North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),  National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Duke University, Wayne State University and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology have created a mixed magnon state in an organic hybrid perovskite material by utilizing the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya-Interaction (DMI). 

The resulting material has potential for processing and storing quantum computing information. The work also expands the number of potential materials that can be used to create hybrid magnonic systems.

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, along with their collaborators, have fabricated a slot die-coated perovskite solar panel that reportedly offers remarkable efficiency retention.

The researchers used a hydrophobic, all-organic salt known as fluorinated anilinium benzylphosphonate (FABP) to modify the top surface of large area slot-die coated methylammonium (MA)-free halide perovskite layers. The salt acts as a molecular lock that is able to bind to both anion and cation vacancies, which significantly increases the materials' intrinsic stability.

Solid oxide fuel cells, or SOFCs, are a type of electrochemical device that generates electricity using hydrogen as fuel, with the only 'waste' product being water. 

To potentially accelerate the development of more efficient SOFCs, a research team from Kyushu University, Yamagata University and Kyushu Synchrotron Light Research Center has uncovered the chemical innerworkings of a perovskite-based electrolyte developed for SOFCs. The team combined synchrotron radiation analysis, large-scale simulations, machine learning, and thermogravimetric analysis, to uncover the active site of where hydrogen atoms are introduced within the perovskite lattice in its process to produce energy. 

Researchers from Korea's KIMM institute have fabricated full-color flexible microLED devices, using blue LEDs and perovskite quantum dot color conversion layers. The demonstrated device featured  1 mm pixel pitch LEDs (25.4 PPI) and could be bent with a radius of 5 mm without being damaged.

The researchers used a perovskite-QD and siloxane composite using ligand exchanged PQD with silane composite followed by surface activation by an addition of halide-anion containing salt. Due to this surface activation, the researchers say that it was possible to construct the PQD surface with a silane ligand using a non-polar organic solvent that does not damage the PQD. As a result, the ligand-exchanged PQD with a silane compound exhibited high dispersibility in the siloxane matrix and excellent atmospheric stability.

Researchers at University of Rome “Tor Vergata”'s CHOSE (Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy) and CNR-ISM Institute of Structure of Matter have deposited flexible perovskite solar modules without using toxic solvents, via blade coating in ambient air. 14% PCE was reportedly obtained through the optimization of coating parameters and the use of additives. 

The scalable ambient air deposition of perovskite solar devices remains a major challenge of this technology. In addition, toxic solvents are regularly used in perovskite layer deposition, which can damage the environment and endanger the safety of potential production lines. In this recent work, the team managed to address these issues and fabricate sustainable flexible perovskite solar modules (flex-PSMs), in which all layers were deposited via a blade coating in ambient air without the usage of toxic solvents. 

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), City University of Hong Kong, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), University of Kentucky, University of Colorado, University of Toledo and Brown University have developed a concept  that simplifies the process of manufacturing perovskite solar cells, which could accelerate their path toward commercialization.

Perovskite solar cells are made by sequentially depositing various layers onto a conductive glass substrate, requiring multiple coatings to create the necessary full device structure. The new technique eliminates or combines some of those steps, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process, which could lead to lower manufacturing costs.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) have examined the space-resolved photoluminescence and lasing behaviors of single crystal (SC) and polycrystalline (PC) perovskites upon femtosecond laser ablation. 

They discovered that femtosecond laser ablation had a considerable influence on the space-resolved photoluminescence (PL) and lasing behavior of both single crystal and polycrystalline MAPbBr₃ perovskites. Due to their distinct defect chemistries and morphologic profiles, the femtosecond laser-generated regions of the material were discovered to have different light emitting behaviors in comparison to the unaffected surface area.

Scientists from Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden), AMOLF, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz have transformed single-cell algae into functional perovskite materials. The team, led by scientists at the B CUBE—Center for Molecular Bioengineering at TU Dresden, converted mineral shells of algae into lead halide perovskites with tunable physical properties. The new perovskites have unique nano-architectures that are said to be unachievable by conventional synthetic production.

The method can be applied to the mass production of perovskites with tunable structural and electro-optical properties from single-celled organisms.