Researchers from Peking University in China have developed a manufacturing method for perovskite solar cells using a pre-nucleation technique. Compared to traditional solvent dripping methods, the approach enables the creation of smaller crystallites in the perovskite films as uncontrolled crystallite growth affects the efficiency and durability of cells.

The technique aims to avoid the efficiency loss caused by humidity linked to the interactions of ambient water and oxygen with the perovskite precursors and substrate used during cell production.

Researchers from Colorado University in Boulder with the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have shown how a change in chemical composition managed to boost the longevity and efficiency of a perovskite solar cell.

The new formula reportedly enabled the solar cell to resist a stability problem that has so far thwarted the commercialization of perovskites. The problem is known as light-induced phase-segregation, which occurs when the alloys that make up the solar cells break down under exposure to continuous light.

A team of researchers at EPFL collaborated with the Swiss National Supercomputing Center (referred to as CSCS) to gain a better understanding of the physics behind perovskites' photovoltaic performance, that may facilitate the design of new materials with favorable properties in the future.

The results of the simulations on “Piz Daint”: The image on the left shows the spatial arrangement of the electron holes (magenta); the one on the right shows the location of the extra electrons (green). (Image: Francesco Ambrosio)

The researchers used the “Piz Daint” supercomputer at CSCS to investigate a perovskite material called methylammonium triiodoplumbate (CH₃NH₃PbI₃) — a material that can harvest sunlight with excellent efficiency because of a vital property: the exceptionally long lifetime of its charge carriers.