The Perovskite-Info newsletter (January 24, 2023)

A research team from City University of Hong Kong (CityU), Curtin University, National Taiwan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Nankai University and Polish Academy of Sciences recently developed a lead-free perovskite photocatalyst that delivers highly efficient solar energy-to-hydrogen conversion.

The team unveiled the interfacial dynamics of solid-solid (between halide perovskite molecules) and solid-liquid (between a halide perovskite and an electrolyte) interfaces during photoelectrochemical hydrogen production. The latest findings open up an avenue to develop a more efficient solar-driven method for producing hydrogen fuel in the future.

A team of researchers, led by Professor Michael Grätzel at EPFL and Xiong Li at the Michael Grätzel Center for Mesoscopic Solar Cells in Wuhan (China), have developed a technique that addresses stability concerns of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and increases their efficiency.

The researchers introduced a phosphonic acid-functionalized fullerene derivative into the charge-transporting layer of the PSC as a “grain boundary modulator”, which helps strengthen the perovskite crystal structure and increases the PSC’s resistance to environmental stressors like heat and moisture.

Researchers from the UK's University of Birmingham, in collaboration with China's University of Science & Technology Beijing, have used perovskite materials to design a novel adaptation for existing iron and steel furnaces that could reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from the steelmaking industry by nearly 90%.

This radical reduction is achieved through a 'closed loop' carbon recycling system, which could replace 90% of the coke typically used in current blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace systems and produces oxygen as a biproduct.