The Perovskite-Info newsletter (October 5, 2021)

A team of researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Florida State University, Argonne National Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Quantum Institute and Sungkyunkwan University has found a rare quantum material in which electrons move in coordinated ways, essentially “dancing.”

Straining the material creates an electronic band structure that sets the stage for exotic, more tightly correlated behavior – similar to tangoing – among Dirac electrons, which are especially mobile electric charge carriers that may someday enable faster transistors.

BlueDot Photonics has announced that Hamamatsu Ventures USA, the North American venture group of Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. of Japan, joined its Series Seed financing. This closes its $1 Million Series Seed financing and will allow BlueDot Photonics to move faster towards its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions through faster deployment of solar power.

BlueDot's technology aims to lower the cost of solar power by up to 10% by improving energy yield in silicon solar panels by up to 16%. Long-term, BlueDot is committed to pushing solar panel efficiency and costs beyond the limits of current silicon technology. The lead investor for BlueDot's Series Seed financing was VoLo Earth Ventures. Other investors include Clean Energy Venture Group (CEVG) of Boston, MA, E8 of Seattle, WA, and VertueLab of Portland, OR.

Researchers from Princeton University have summarized the advancements in using molecular dopants to control the electronic structure of metal halide perovskites. They provide an overview of fundamental work on this doping method for interfaces and adjacent transport layers, which play a predominant role in the design, performance, and stability of perovskite solar cells.

“The development of perovskite technology requires control of the electronic properties, and one of the ways is to dope the material to make it more electron-rich or hole-rich,“ said author Antoine Kahn. ”Doping of the bulk of these materials is still in its infancy. It’s actually quite difficult to achieve, but a somewhat successful way is to use molecular organic dopants at interfaces.“

A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bhilai has developed a perovskite solar cell with an active area of 2cm² and a back contact electrode made of copper (Cu). The team's new work utilized copper contacts instead of gold for reduction of costs.

The solar cell was fabricated via a two-step spin-coating technique with a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate; a methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI₃) perovskite layer sandwiched between a titanium oxide (TiO₂ ) electron transport layer (ETL) and a hole transport layer (HTL) made of Spiro-OMeTA; and a copper conducting electrode. A similar device with a gold (Au) conducting electrode was also built, as a reference cell. “Copper or gold contact electrodes were deposited through a metal shadow mask by thermal evaporation to complete the cell fabrication process,” the research group said.

Researchers from the University of Surrey, University of Cambridge and University of Toronto, have explained the origin, characterization, pitfalls and opportunities for strain in perovskite materials. The team also explained their vision of how the research community can use strain to unleash the full potential of perovskite materials.

Dr. Wei Zhang, a corresponding author and Senior Lecturer from the University of Surrey, said: "Many in the photovoltaic research community are rightly excited about the potential of perovskite materials, not only when it comes to green technologies such as solar cells but other electronic devices. In this study, we look at factors that influence the efficiency and stability of devices—and explore the role strain may play on perovskites. A comprehensive understanding of strain in perovskites will lead to perovskite materials with remarkable optoelectronic novelty."

Perovskite-Info is proud to announce an update to our Perovskite for the Display Industry Market Report. This market report, brought to you by the world's leading perovskite and OLED industry experts, is a comprehensive guide to next-generation perovskite-based solutions for the display industry that enable efficient, low cost and high-quality display devices. The report is now updated to October 2021.

Reading this report, you'll learn all about:

• Perovskite materials and their properties
• Perovskite applications in the display industry
• Perovskite QDs for color conversion
• Prominent perovskite display related research activities

The report also provides a list of perovskite display companies, datasheets and brochures of pQD film solutions, an introduction to perovskite materials and processes, an introduction to emerging display technologies and more.