Researchers at Northern Illinois University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado have reported on a potential breakthrough in the development of hybrid perovskite solar cells.

Led by Tao Xu of NIU and Kai Zhu of NREL, the scientists have developed a technique to sequester the lead used to make perovskite solar cells and minimize potential toxic leakage by applying lead-absorbing films to the front and back of the solar cell.

Researchers at China’s Xi’an Jiaotong University have developed a solar cell based on multiple-cation lead mixed-halide perovskite (MLMP), which reportedly has a stronger moisture resistance compared to cells based on single-halide perovskites.

The team says that mixed halides offer the chance to manufacture more reproducible, thermally stable films with higher crystal qualities. However, these halides also suffer from stability issues due to abundant point defects and dangling bonds at the grain boundary and film surface. In order to address this problem, the scientists turned to interface engineering. They used phosphorus-containing Lewis acid and base molecules such as triphenylphosphine oxide (TPPO), tetraisopropyl methylenediphosphonate (TMPP), and tris (pentafluorophenyl) phosphine (TPFP) in the surface passivation process.

A team of scientists from the NUST MISIS Laboratory of Advanced Solar Energy has proposed a new approach that uses the two-dimensional inorganic material zirconium trisulfide as the electron transport layer of a perovskite LED. In the future, this may allow the mass production of a new type of light-emitting diodes, as well as solving the problem of LED displays degradation, for example, in smartphones and TVs.

The screens of many modern smartphones and TVs "suffer" from pixel burnout. Due to the presence of an organic component in OLED-type matrices (and their derivatives), pixels begin to degrade when the same icons on the screen are lit for a long time. So far, manufacturers advise users to periodically change the screen interface, rearrange the icons in places and regularly update the screen saver. In fact, the problem could be solved by minimizing the use of organic components in the screen matrix. Perovskite diodes are proposed as a way to make a revolution in designing screens.