Researchers at Aalto University have found that only a fraction of stability tests done on perovskite-based solar cells and dye-sensitized solar cells meet proper requirements. The team analyzed 261 aging tests conducted on such solar and saw major shortcomings in both how the results had been reported and how tests had been implemented. Tests lack common standards and should have been done in real-world conditions and in groups of several cells.

"In about half of the aging studies, the data was published only for one solar cell. Studying only one cell does not yield a sufficient amount of data to reliably compare how different materials age, that is, lose efficiency over time," says the team.

CHEOPS, a European research project with a focus on upscaling perovskite photovoltaic cells, has released a new research that shows a way to reduce the ‘dead area’ of photovoltaic cells by applying an enhanced laser patterning process. This new development means that more of the area of a cell can be used for energy conversion, making it more efficient.

For upscaling efforts to achieve suitable currents, photovoltaic cells are usually split into a series of interconnected segments. It is these breaks in the material that need to be made as small as possible to be able to optimize the cell for energy conversion. This so-called ‘dead area’ has been reduced to a width of 400μm by using a new laser patterning process.

Researchers from the Russian ITMO University have developed effective nanoscale light sources based on a halide perovskite. These nanosources are subwavelength nanoparticles which serve both as emitters and nanoantennas and allow enhancing light emission inherently without additional devices. Moreover, the perovskite enables tuning the emission spectra throughout a visible range by varying the composition of the material. The new nanoparticles are a promising platform for creating compact optoelectronic devices such as optical chips, light-emitting diodes, or sensors.

The nanoscale light sources and nanoantennas have already found a wide range of applications in several areas, such as ultra compact pixels, optical detection, or telecommunications. However, the fabrication of nanostructure-based devices is rather complicated due to the limited luminescence efficiency of the materials used typically as well as non-directional and relatively weak light emission of single quantum dots or molecules. An even more challenging task is placing a nanoscale light source precisely near a nanoantenna.

A team of researchers at Northwestern University has created a new fuel cell with a perovskite-based cathode, that offers both exceptional power densities and long-term stability at optimal temperatures.

"For years, industry has told us that the holy grail is getting fuel cells to work at 500-degrees Celsius and with high power density, which means a longer life and less expensive components," said the team. "With this research, we can now envision a path to making cost-effective fuel cells and transforming the energy landscape."

A recent report by Cintelliq on the perovskite solar cell patent landscape shows massive growth in perovskite photovoltaic patent publications over the past two years. In 2016 and 2017 more than 1500 patents have been published representing 75% of all perovskite photovoltaic patents published since 2008.

The total number of patents published to the end of December 2017 is 2030 and filed by 396 distinct assignees. These published patents arise from innovations that occurred in previous years, as can be seen in the chart of yearly patent filed and published. As can also be seen there are fewer patent filings in 2016 and even less in 2017. However, this is not a rapid fall in filings, but a probable side effect of the length of time it takes to go from initial filing through to initial publications.

A recent report by Cintelliq on the perovskite solar cell patent landscape shows massive growth in perovskite photovoltaic patent publications over the past two years. In 2016 and 2017 more than 1500 patents have been published representing 75% of all perovskite photovoltaic patents published since 2008.

The total number of patents published to the end of December 2017 is 2030 and filed by 396 distinct assignees. These published patents arise from innovations that occurred in previous years, as can be seen in the chart of yearly patent filed and published. As can also be seen there are fewer patent filings in 2016 and even less in 2017. However, this is not a rapid fall in filings, but a probable side effect of the length of time it takes to go from initial filing through to initial publications.