Researchers at China's Wuhan University of Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Jinan Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology have developed a novel playdough-like graphite putty as top electrode for perovskite solar devices. The electrode is malleable and so can form good contact with the hole-transporting layer and the conductive substrate at room temperature using a simple pressing technique, which facilitates the fabrication of both small-area devices and perovskite solar modules. 

Carbon-based perovskite solar cells (C-PSCs) are promising candidates for large-scale photovoltaic applications due to their theoretical low cost and high stability. However, the fabrication of high-performance C-PSCs with large-area electrodes remains challenging. In their recent research, the team showed that corresponding small devices and modules can achieve efficiencies of 20.29% (∼0.15 cm²) and 16.01% (∼10 cm²), respectively. Moreover, they analyzed the limitations of the optical and electrical properties of this playdough-like graphite electrode on the device performance, suggesting a direction for further improvement of C-PSCs in the future.

It was reported that researchers at the Institute for Advanced Materials at the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló have created a method for synthesizing organic-inorganic tin halide perovskites and generating thin films or coatings from them, which, when deposited on substrates, have optoelectronic properties that are useful for the creation of devices such as perovskite-based LEDs (PeLEDs).

The method developed by the team consisting of Dr. Samrat Das Adhikari and the doctoral student, Jesús A. Sánchez Diaz, and led by the researcher Iván Mora Seró, exhibits excellent photoluminescence and stability properties that are suitable for commercial application in the field of optoelectronic devices (solar cells, LEDs, etc.).

Helio Display Materials has announced it will be moving its perovskite-based display materials (that were jointly invented within Cambridge and Oxford Universities) to pilot-scale production.

The materials generate light of the desired color by converting light rather than filtering it which provides power savings of up to 40% and a step change improvement in color gamut. With perovskites, the wavelength of emitted light can be tuned by chemical composition. This contrasts with quantum dots which rely on quantum confinement in identically sized nanometer scale particles. Color by composition massively simplifies the manufacturing process for perovskites vs. quantum dots and allows the use of standard chemical industry processes and equipment.

A team of researchers, led by Nuri Yazdani, Vanessa Wood at ETH Zurich, and Aaron Lindenberg at Stanford, along with colleagues at Empa, recently studied atom motion within nanocrystals with a time resolution in the range of billionths of a second. 

The scientists managed to capture snapshots of the crystal structure of perovskite nanocrystals as excited electrons deformed it. They surprisingly found that the deformation straightened out the skewed crystal structure rather than making it more disordered.

China-based GCL has announced achieving a maximal conversion efficiency of 26.17% for its perovskite tandem module sized 278mm x 370mm, as reportedly confirmed by China National Institute of Metrology.

The Company stated that its new result marks the beginning of the development of perovskite tandem modules, which exhibit greater conversion efficiency than that of crystalline silicon panels.

China's Three Gorges Group has announced that "the world's first commercial megawatt-level perovskite ground-mounted photovoltaic project was successfully connected to the grid on November 29".

The project is located in the Kubuqi Desert hinterland of Hangjin Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, and is supported by the Kubuqi 2 million kilowatt photovoltaic desert control project in the west of Inner Mongolia. The project has an installed capacity of 1 megawatt, covers an area of 40 acres, and utilizes a total of 11,200 modules of perovskite photovoltaic modules, as was reported.

Hanwha Qcells recently announced it will be closing its 3.5GW module factory in South Korea, in response to the stagnant solar market in the country. It was reported that the total installed capacity of solar power in South Korea has been continuously decreasing over the past three years, from 4.7GW in 2020 to 3.4GW in 2022, and is expected to further decrease in 2023.

Closing the factory comes as part of a plan to optimize Hanwha's photovoltaic module production capacity. However, Hanwha stated that it will continue to invest in its factory in Jincheon, South Korea, which will continue to produce TOPCon products and operate a perovskite tandem cell pilot line.

Researchers at South Korea’s Chonnam National University have reported perovskite-organic hybrid tandem solar cells with 23.07% efficiency processed entirely in open air, bringing the technology a step closer to economic viability.

Schematic illustration of the synthesis of all-inorganic perovskite thin films by dynamic hot-air-assisted method. Image from Energy & Environmental Science 

Researchers have largely relied on meticulously engineering the perovskite crystal structure itself for greater resilience. But these delicate handling steps add cost and complexity not suitable for mass production. The team explained that the focus has recently shifted toward all-solution processed solar cells due to their low energy consumption fabrication processes. The team’s innovation, a dynamic hot air deposition technique, simplified the production process by eliminating the need for humidity-controlled environments.

Researchers at Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE have estimated that the practical power conversion efficiency potential of perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells may reach up to 39.5%. In a recent study, the Fraunhofer ISE scientists set out to provide guidelines for future research on perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells by identifying the most significant loss mechanisms at the perovskite/ETL interface, in the series resistance, and in light management.

The team explained that the calculated practical efficiency potential of 39.5% for a perovskite silicon tandem device under standard measurement conditions (STC) can serve as an input for future studies which are required for a better understanding of the full system before the commercialization of tandem solar cell technology can take place.

Researchers in Sweden and China have studied the reasons behind the short operational lifetime of blue perovskite-based LEDs (PeLEDs). 

While perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) have seen unprecedented development in device efficiency over the past decade, they still suffer from poor operational stability. This is especially true for blue PeLEDs, whose operational lifetime remains orders of magnitude behind their green and red counterparts. The scientists in this work have systematically investigated this efficiency-stability discrepancy in a series of green- to blue-emitting PeLEDs based on mixed Br/Cl-perovskites. Typically, mixed chloride/bromide perovskites are employed to produce ideal blue emission. However, the researchers have uncovered a counterintuitive fact: even minute quantities of chloride loading can have a dramatic negative impact on the operational lifetime of these devices.