The Perovskite-Info newsletter (May 24, 2022)

Researchers from ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science, Monash University, University of Sydney and CSIRO Manufacturing have shown how water could be the 'secret ingredient' in a simple way to create perovskite crystals.

Ordinarily, water is kept as far away as possible during the process of creating perovskites as the presence of moisture is severely harmful to them. That’s why perovskites for scientific research are often made via spin coating in the sealed environment of a nitrogen glove box. However, in their new work, the researchers have found a simple way to control the growth of phase-pure perovskite crystals by harnessing water as a positive factor. This liquid-based mechanism works at room temperature, so the approach remains cost effective.

In its recent report, the US Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) outlined the main technical challenges, commercialization risks and opportunities and the efforts being made to overcome the obstacles standing before the commercialization of perovskite solar cells.

It's important to note that while SETO mentions that most of the development in the solar field in the next few years will rely on silicon and CdTe, it sees potential in nascent technologies like halide perovskites.

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).

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.

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.