The Perovskite-Info newsletter

Researchers from the University of Cambridge, University of Liverpool, CNRS, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science and Diamond Light Source have shown the by melting and quenching hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite compounds, it is possible to create a new family of glasses that could find uses in the energy sector.

Comparison of physical properties of melt-quenched glasses with various materials. Image from study

The research team made three hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite compounds based on tetrapropylammonium with manganese(II), iron(II) and cobalt(II) and melted them. According to author François-Xavier Coudert at the CNRS in France, they had to tune the temperature to aim for a very narrow temperature window, around 20 degrees on average, depending on each metal used – hot enough to liquefy the samples, but not so hot that it decomposes them. The team measured the exact heat coming in and out of the glasses to learn their properties, describing each one thoroughly. ‘We’re melting a novel class of materials and accessing a novel family of glasses,’ Coudert says. ‘I’ve probably never seen materials so well characterized with so many techniques and so much information. It is fascinating to see all of these methods together.’

Scientists from Pennsylvania State University, Shaanxi Normal University, Hubei University and the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command have designed a semi-transparent perovskite solar cell that reached 19.8%, and 28.3% in a tandem cell stacked on top of a silicon-heterojunction device. The device is based on a film of gold just a few atoms thick, grown using an innovative seeding method, which is both highly conductive and transparent.

The team investigated, in their new study, a new method to grow a very thin, continuous layer of gold onto a perovskite solar cell as the top electrode layer. Despite the fact that gold is a rare and expensive material, the group is convinced its approach offers an alternate, efficient route to fabricating perovskite and tandem solar cells.

Renewables investor Magnora AG recently announced that it will increase its investment in perovskite solar developer Evolar, taking a 40.7% stake in the company.

Mats Ljunggren, Evolar’s chief executive, said the company’s next-generation solar cells have “Much higher efficiency for about the same per-watt manufacturing cost” as traditional technologies.

An international team of scientists from ICN2, EPFL, Eindhoven University of Technology, University of Cambridge, Max-Planck Institute for polymer Research and several other institutions have fabricated perovskite solar cells which retained almost all of their initial 21% efficiency after 1,000 hours under continuous operation at their maximum power point.

The researchers attribute this performance to an additive that ‘blocked’ ions that cause device degradation, 3-phosphono propionic acid (H3pp), which served to greatly improve device stability with no observable effects on its solar performance. The team hopes this new work will contribute to an improved understanding of the relationship between efficiency and stability in perovskite PV.

Understanding the charge mobility of lead-halide perovskite materials is crucial for their use in photovoltaic applications. Using X-ray spectroscopic techniques, the structural deformations affecting the charge mobility, which plays a central role in solar energy conversion, have been identified and quantified by an international team of scientists led by Giulia Mancini (at the University of Pavia) and M. Chergui at EPFL.

Lead-halide perovskites' use in photovoltaic applications relies on the generation of charges (electrons and hole) upon absorption of light. These charges migrate through the material to generate an electrical current. One of the crucial physical properties in this respect is the so-called charge mobility. Despite their remarkable performances in light-to-electricity conversion, a limitation of perovskites is their charge mobilities, which are orders of magnitude smaller than those of conventional semi-conductors used in photovoltaics.