Researchers at Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, working with Imperial College London and the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, have developed a method to print ultrathin coatings on perovskite-based solar cells, allowing them to work in tandem with silicon solar cells to boost efficiencies.

Solar cells work by absorbing sunlight to produce clean electricity. But photovoltaics can absorb only a fraction of the solar spectrum, which limits their efficiencies. The typical efficiency of a solar panel is only 18-20%.

A recent study reported the highest efficiency ever recorded for full roll-to-roll printed perovskite solar cells (PSCs), marking a significant step on the way to cheaper and more efficient ways of generating solar energy.

The team at Swansea University's SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Center, led by Trystan Watson, reported using a roll-to-roll fabrication method for four layers of slot-die coated PSCs. The PSCs gave the stable power output of 12.2 percent - the highest efficiency recorded for four layers of roll-to-roll printed PSCs to date.

The performance of photodetectors based on perovskite polycrystalline thin films is still considered to be at a distance from expected values. One reason is that the carrier transport at the interface is easily affected by grain boundaries and grain defects. Many research groups have tried to combine perovskite polycrystalline thin films with high-mobility, two-dimensional materials to improve device performance, and have achieved promising results, but the negative effects of perovskite polycrystalline grain boundaries still remain.

To solve this problem, a team led by Assoc. Prof. Yu Weili from Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Prof. GUO Chunlei from the University of Rochester synthesized a low-surface-defect-density CH₃NH₃PbBr₃ microplate through the inverse temperature crystallization strategy. They prepared an effective vertical structure photodetector combining a high-quality perovskite single crystal with monolayer graphene with high carrier mobility.

A Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH) research team has designed a halide perovskite material for next-generation memory devices. Characteristics like low-operating voltage and high-performance resistive switching memory could mean great commercialization potential.

As rapid distribution and transmission of high-quality contents are growing rapidly, it is critical to develop reliable and stable semiconductor memories. To this end, the POSTECH research team succeeded in designing an optimal halide perovskite material (CsPb₂Br₅) that can be applied to a ReRAM device by applying first-principles calculation based on quantum mechanics.

Researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have developed a new fabrication technique based on inkjet printing that could enable fast, efficient and scalable production of perovskite solar cells.

“Developing a well-working inkjet printing process for the fabrication of perovskite solar cells could not only enable low-cost mass production, but would also offer to easily modify the printed design based on digital image files opening up the market for individually customized solar cells,” said Helge Eggers, doctoral student in the research group of Dr. Ulrich W. Paetzold from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.