The Perovskite-Info newsletter

A team of researchers, led by South Korea's UNIST and KIER, and Switzerland's EPFL, has reached 25.6% power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells by introducing an anion engineering concept that uses pseudo-halide anion formate to suppress anion-vacancy defects and augment crystallinity.

Perovskite derivatives have been investigated to overcome instability issues with lead-based organic perovskite materials in ambient air and reduce the use of lead. Researchers have introduced various methods to improve conversion efficiency. An engineering concept using formate, which is the anion derived from formic acid, was introduced by researchers.

Researchers from Australia's Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and Swinburne University of Technology have reported the creation of resilient, high-efficiency triple-cation perovskite solar cells (PSCs) by incorporating carbon dots (CDs) derived from human hair into the perovskite film.

QUT's Professor Hongxia Wang’s team had previously found that nanostructured carbon materials could be used to improve a cell’s performance. In their recent work, they tried using the carbon nanodots on perovskite solar cells. After adding a solution of carbon dots into the process perovskites synthesis, Professor Wang’s team found the carbon dots forming a wave-like layer where the perovskite crystals are surrounded by the carbon dots.

A study led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has shown a shape-shifting quality in perovskite oxides that could be promising for speeding up the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) that is vital for hydrogen production (and a variety of other chemical processes). The research shows that perovskite oxides could be used to design new materials for making renewable fuels and also for storing energy.

Surface evolution of a lanthanum cobalt oxide perovskite. Image credit: ANL

Perovskite oxides are less expensive than precious metals such as iridium or ruthenium that also promote OER. But perovskite oxides are not as active (in other words, efficient at accelerating the OER) as these metals, and they tend to slowly degrade.