Recent Perovskite News - Page 2

Researchers from Guangdong University of Technology have developed a zinc-ion (Zn²⁺) modification strategy that improves both the efficiency and the stability of all-inorganic CsPbBr₃ perovskite solar cells.

All-inorganic CsPbBr₃ perovskites are known for their excellent environmental stability compared with hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites, since they avoid the organic cations (such as MA⁺ and FA⁺) that are prone to degrading under heat, moisture, oxygen and light. That stability comes at a cost, however: CsPbBr₃'s wide bandgap (about 2.3 eV) limits light harvesting, and its films typically suffer from low crystallinity and high defect density, which drive charge recombination and hold back power conversion efficiency (PCE).

GCL Optoelectronic Material (Kunshan GCL Optoelectronic Materials), a subsidiary of GCL Group, has completed a D1 financing round exceeding 100 million yuan (over US$14 million), led by Jinxin Capital, with Sequoia China, Xiang'an Venture Capital and Suzhou Asset Management participating. The company says the funds will primarily support the commercial delivery of its ground-mounted photovoltaic power stations and the verification of space photovoltaic applications.

The D1 round follows a Series C2 round completed in July 2025 that raised nearly 200 million yuan. Since its first angel round in May 2020, GCL Optoelectronics has attracted strategic investments exceeding one billion yuan from companies and institutions including CATL, TCL Group, Tencent, Temasek and Sequoia Capital.

The crowdfunding campaign for the DESLOC V150 Plus, a smart door lock powered by a SolaEon perovskite solar panel, has passed $500,000 in pledges. The V150 Plus was developed with Dessmann, DESLOC's parent-brand connection with 17 years of lock-engineering experience, and reached 100% of its funding goal within the first hour of launch.

The V150 Plus integrates SolaEon's perovskite solar panel directly into the lock body, allowing it to keep charging in the low, indirect light typical of shaded porches and covered entryways - conditions where conventional crystalline-silicon solar locks struggle to maintain a charge. Beyond the solar system, the lock includes dual cameras with 3D facial recognition, an AI-assisted fingerprint sensor, and a removable 10,000 mAh battery rated for up to eight months of backup operation without sunlight.

Perovskite Connect 2026 is set to be the industry's premier event, taking place on 21-22 October 2026 in Berlin, with a world-class agenda, exhibition and networking opportunities. Co-located with the Future of Electronics RESHAPED, Perovskite Connect will focus on the perovskite supply chain, solar applications, recent innovations, materials and processes.

In this article we will introduce some of our speakers and themes at the event. You can explore the full agenda and event details here.

PeroCycle has signed strategic partnerships with Chinese gas separation and purification company Beijing Peking University Pioneer Technology Corporation Ltd. (PKU Pioneer) and international engineering consultancy io consulting, aimed at accelerating the development and commercialization of its perovskite-based carbon recycling technology for foundation industries such as steel, cement and chemicals.

PeroCycle's technology, developed at the University of Birmingham, uses a perovskite catalyst to split CO₂ into carbon monoxide (CO) at significantly lower temperatures than conventional methods. The captured CO₂ is converted back into CO for reuse on site as a substitute for fossil-based reducing agents like coal and coke, creating a localized, closed-loop carbon economy that the company says can reduce carbon emissions in sectors like steelmaking by up to 90%. Because the technology can be retrofitted into existing facilities as well as built into new plants, PeroCycle positions it as a way to avoid both stranded assets and the high capital cost of new-build "green" plants.

Researchers connected to Chinese flexible-perovskite maker SunFlex have published two separate papers within the same month, addressing two of the field's persistent stability problems: halide segregation in wide-bandgap perovskite/organic tandems, and desorption of the self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) used at the perovskite/electrode interface.

The first paper, from researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai Jiao Tong University - including SunFlex co-founder and CAS academician Yongfang Li - tackles a known weakness of wide-bandgap, high-bromide mixed-halide perovskites, which are used as the front cell in perovskite/organic tandem solar cells: they tend to mix unevenly during crystallization and undergo light-induced halide segregation during operation, both of which limit device performance. The team introduced a photo-transformable additive, 4-[3-(trifluoromethyl)-3H-diazirin-3-yl]benzylamine (TDB), into the perovskite precursor solution to address both problems in sequence. During crystallization, TDB suppresses the rapid precipitation of the bromide-rich phase and speeds up halide mixing during annealing, improving initial homogeneity. Then, once the device is under illumination, TDB itself transforms into a new chemical species that adsorbs more strongly onto the perovskite's grain-boundary surfaces, blocking the formation of iodide-related defects and suppressing both defect-assisted carrier trapping and ion migration - the mechanisms behind light-induced halide segregation.

Researchers from Tianjin University, Tianjin Institute of Power Sources, Beijing Institute of Technology, the Shanghai Institute of Micro-System and Information Technology (Chinese Academy of Sciences), the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (Chinese Academy of Sciences), and Harbin Institute of Technology have developed a perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell for space applications that reached a certified 27.49% power conversion efficiency (PCE) under AM0 (zero air mass) illumination - which the team describes as the highest certified AM0 efficiency reported to date for this type of tandem - while also demonstrating strong resistance to electron and proton radiation and stable output during a real high-altitude balloon flight to nearly 30 km.

Perovskite/silicon tandems are attractive for space power because they combine perovskite's radiation tolerance with silicon's mature manufacturing and near-infrared response, but most previous work has focused on efficiency under standard terrestrial (AM1.5G) conditions rather than the radiation resilience and extreme thermal cycling that low Earth orbit (LEO) actually demands. In LEO, devices cycle between roughly +90°C and -90°C more than 15 times a day and face continuous bombardment by high-energy electrons and protons, which damage semiconductors through ionization and atomic displacement. In a monolithic, series-connected tandem, damage to either subcell drags down the whole device - and the researchers found that the silicon bottom cell is usually the weak link.

TNO, together with Dutch industrial partners Levitech, Tempress, Yparex and SMIT Thermal Solutions and the German R&D center of Hanwha Q Cells, has demonstrated for the first time that bifacial tandem solar technology can be manufactured at industrial scale, delivering measurably higher electricity output from the same surface area under real operating conditions.

The module architecture stacks monolithic perovskite/silicon solar cells to reach higher efficiencies than current silicon-only modules, while its bifacial design captures light from both the front and rear of the panel for additional yield. The work was carried out under the Fit4Market project, a Dutch-German collaboration TNO has coordinated since 2023, which set out to combine bifacial light capture with tandem cell architecture using processes compatible with existing photovoltaic production lines - prioritizing scalability and real-world validation over maximizing laboratory efficiency.

Tandem PV, a U.S. developer and manufacturer of high-efficiency perovskite-silicon solar panels, has announced that it has acquired nexTC Corporation, an Oregon-based developer of advanced thin-film metal oxide coating processes. 

The acquisition brings nexTC’s coating technology, intellectual property, and technical expertise into Tandem PV, giving the company greater control over a critical coating process as it ramps its Fremont demonstration line and prepares for commercial-scale production. nexTC specializes in solution-based transparent oxide coatings. In tandem solar panels, these ultrathin layers modify charge transport while allowing sunlight to reach the silicon cell below. Their performance is important to module efficiency, durability and manufacturability.

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have designed a multilayer photonic film that both lets more usable sunlight reach a perovskite solar cell and passively cools it, together delivering an absolute power conversion efficiency (PCE) improvement of 3.76 percentage points.

Heat is a persistent problem for solar cells: perovskite solar cells (PSCs) tolerate moderate temperature increases better than crystalline silicon cells, but beyond about 55°C their efficiency drops off faster than silicon's does, and a cell's aging rate roughly doubles for every 10°C rise in operating temperature. Passive radiative cooling offers a way to manage this without consuming any power, by using materials that emit heat efficiently in the "atmospheric window" (8-13 micron wavelengths), a band where the atmosphere is largely transparent and heat can radiate straight out to the cold of space.