Researchers at MIT and several additional institutions in Singapore and at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland have developed a streamlined system for creating and analyzing perovskite compounds, that may accelerate the development time of perovskite solar cells and other applications. The new system could speed up the process of screening new formulations, achieving a roughly ten-fold improvement in the speed of the synthesis and analysis of new compounds. In the process, they have already discovered two sets of promising new perovskite-inspired materials that are worthy of further study.

The sequence of steps used in the new streamlined process to synthesize perovskite-based materials

The team reported that most of the improvements in throughput speed resulted from workflow ergonomics. That involves more traditional systems efficiencies, often derived by tracking and timing the many steps involved: synthesizing new compounds, depositing them on a substrate to crystallize, and then observing and classifying the resulting crystal formations using multiple techniques.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology and the University of Stuttgart are aiming to use carbon dioxide as a raw material for the production of chemicals, using a process based on a new perovskite capillary membrane.

The perovskite capillaries with a diameter of 2 mm and a wall thickness of 150 µm. Image by Fraunhofer

In the project “PiCK – Plasma-Induced CO2 Conversion for the Storage of Renewable Energies”, the researchers have been researching for two years a new approach that uses excess electricity from regenerative sources and combines plasma with membrane technology. The process splits CO₂ into oxygen and the chemical base material carbon monoxide. The separation of oxygen is based on a perovskite capillary membrane, which is CO2-stable and permeable to oxygen at 1000°C.

A collaborative study between Tel Aviv University (TAU) in Israel and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany demonstrates remarkable continuous lasing action in devices made from perovskites.

"In contrast to previous studies around the world, this is the first study to exhibit continuous lasing action, as opposed to pulsed operation," says Prof. Jacob Scheuer of TAU's Department of Physical Electronics, who led the TAU team of researchers. "This family of materials is considered the most promising candidate for a future laser-based industry, because their fabrication is simple, fast and inexpensive compared to current semiconductor materials being used for these purposes. In addition, these materials can support the realization of solid-state lasers emitting in green, necessary for future lighting, displays and projectors," Prof. Scheuer adds. "Current semiconductor lasers emit light only in red and blue."