A team of researchers at the Ulsan Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and Korea University, led by Professors Myung-Hoon Song, Sang-Gyu Kwak and Han-Young Woo, recently announced the development of a PeLED - a perovskite-based LED device, that emits blue light.

The team explained that the perovskite light emitting device, which uses perovskite as a color material, is more than three times more efficient than before and has a high color purity, enabling a clear blue color.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have reported a breakthrough in the development of a next-generation thermochromic window that not only reduces the need for air conditioning but simultaneously generates electricity.

NREL researcher Lance Wheeler holds a perovskite window prototype that can switch between a variety of colors. Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL, taken from globenewswire

The technology, dubbed 'thermochromic photovoltaic,' allows the window to change color to block glare and reduce unwanted solar heating when the glass gets warm on a sunny day. This color change also leads to the formation of a functioning solar cell that generates on-board power. Thermochromic photovoltaic windows can help buildings turn into energy generators, increasing their contribution to the broader energy grid's needs. The newest breakthrough now enables various colors and a broader range of temperatures that drive the color switch. This increases design flexibility for improving energy efficiency as well as control over building aesthetics that is highly desirable for both architects and end users.

Poland-based Saule Technologies that develops flexible photovoltaic cells based on perovskite technology, recently launched sunbreaker lamellas equipped with perovskite solar cells. In a market full of potential and promises but still low on commercial products, it is definitely encouraging to see the launch of a product such as this.

The product presentation took place in cooperation with partners Somfy and Aliplast. The company intends to commercialize the sunbreakers in cooperation with the company to be selected in a tender. The first presentation of the product took place at Silesia Ring track during an event attended by representatives of the management of several dozen of the largest Polish companies from such industries as logistics, retail, FMCG, telecommunications and real estate. The product presented during the premiere included an automation system and smart cover control by Somfy, and an aluminum construction provided by Aliplast.

A team of researchers, led by China's Nanjing University, have found that a chemical most commonly used in the textile industry can also serve as a performance-enhancing additive for mixed lead/tin perovskite thin films. They have used this additive to create a two perovskite tandem cell measuring 1.05cm² that achieved 24.2% efficiency.

Mixed lead-tin perovskites are known to have the right narrow bandgap for use as the top cell in a tandem device. However, despite similar theoretical efficiency potential, the development of these materials has stayed behind that of pure lead perovskites. One reason for this, according to scientists, is that the tin tends to oxidize during fabrication of the film, leading to high levels of defects and non-uniformity in the film. 'Defective grain surfaces are vulnerable to trap generation and Sn²⁺ oxidation,' state the group led by Nanjing University Professor Hairen Tan. 'And this works against the stability, efficiency, and scaling of mixed Pb'Sn perovskite solar cells and all-perovskite tandems.'

Scientists from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and Michigan State, Toledo and Wisconsin universities have found bifacial perovskite PV cells have the potential to become more environmentally friendly than conventional crystalline silicon devices, due to their increased energy yield.

The scientists examined sites at Toledo, in Ohio and Golden, Colorado, to take account of high and low latitude and humidity conditions. The researchers analyzed the environmental impact of single-junction, bifacial perovskite cells with high and low bandgaps, and multi-junction devices of the same type with two-terminal (2T) and four-terminal (4T) structures. They quantified the life cycle energy production from the cells under real-world conditions and benefiting from diverse albedo environments including installation above sandstone, concrete, grass and snow.

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have led a study into perovskite solar cells that has revealed a way to slow phonons, the waves that transport heat.

The discovery has the potential to improve hot-carrier solar cells, which convert sunlight to electricity more efficiently than conventional solar cells by harnessing photogenerated charge carriers before they lose energy to heat.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a new wide-bandgap perovskite layer – called Apex Flex – which they claim is able to withstand heat, light, and operational tests, and at the same time provide a reliable and high voltage.

With this material, they have built tandem solar cells with 23.1% power conversion efficiency on a rigid substrate, and 21.3% on flexible plastic. The new Apex Flex wide-bandgap perovskite recombination layer is grown with atomic layer deposition (ALD). The new material is described as a “nucleation layer consisting of an ultra-thin polymer with nucleophilic hydroxyl and amine functional groups for nucleating a conformal, low-conductivity aluminum zinc oxide layer.”

Three Purdue scientists of different expertise joined forces to lead a research team ' Shriram Ramanathan, professor of materials engineering; Hyowon 'Hugh' Lee, assistant professor of biomedical engineering; and Alexander Chubykin, assistant professor of biological sciences.

Chubykin and Lee had been working together on new ways to sense neurotransmitters in the brain, seeking materials that could trace these chemicals with greater sensitivity and speed. Ramanathan had been working separately on just such a material for years, discovering doping methods for perovskites to be more sensitive to certain chemicals. This material ' a perovskite nickelate coated with a nafion layer ' turned out to be just what his colleagues were seeking. Through a series of tests, the team discovered that this material is perfect for tracking glutamate, a chemical that the brain's nerve cells use to communicate with other cells.

Metal halide perovskites are often made by mixing cations or halides with formamidinium (FAPbI₃), to get high power-conversion efficiency in perovskite solar cells. But at the same time, the most stable phase of FAPbI₃ is photoinactive, meaning that it does not react to light'the opposite of what a solar power harvester should do. In addition, solar cells made with FAPbI₃ show long-term stability issues. Now, researchers led by Michael Grätzel and Anders Hafgeldt at EPFL, have developed a deposition method that overcomes the formamidinium issues while maintaining the high conversion of perovskite solar cells.

In the new method, the materials are first treated with a vapor of methylammonium thiocyanate (MASCN) or formamidinium thiocyanate FASCN. This innovative tweak turns the photoinactive FAPbI₃ perovskite films to the desired photosensitive ones.

University of Sydney Nano Institute will lead multi-institutional research into extending the lifetime of perovskite solar energy cells, in an effort to make them truly cost-effective.

The federal government's renewable energy agency, ARENA, has awarded AUD$2.5 million (around USD$1,791,000) in solar energy research funding to Professor Anita Ho-Baillie, the John Hooke Chair of Nanoscience at the University of Sydney Nano Institute. The funding is part of a national injection to support solar photovoltaic research.