The Perovskite-Info newsletter (July 20, 2021)

University of Arizona scientists have developed a new printing process called Restricted Area Printing by Ink Drawing, or RAPID, and received a three-year, $700,000 grant from the Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to advance the method.

Adam Printz, an assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering at the University of Arizona, along with his team, started developing the perovskite printing process in late 2019, and they’ve been able to demonstrate on a small scale with 3D-printed parts how it works – using “whatever they had lying around in the lab.” This funding enables them to create a more reproducible and scalable version.

A team of scientists at EPFL has come up with an efficient solution to the lead problem of perovskite solar cells, which involves using a transparent phosphate salt that does not block solar light and hence doesn't affect performance.

In case the solar panel fails, the phosphate salt immediately reacts with lead to produce a water-insoluble compound that cannot leach out to the soil, and which can be recycled.