April
Picture of the Month - April 2020
Here you see current insights into the research of the LaMa groups. A collection of the former pictures can be found in the Gallery.
Coupling halide perovskites with different materials: From doping to nanocomposites, beyond photovoltaics
Lead halide perovskites are the rising stars in current research on next-generation photovoltaic materials. After ten years of incessant work, researchers have reached important results in LHP photovoltaics, overcoming the 25% power conversion efficiency threshold and thus closely approaching silicon performance. On the other hand, challenges are now open for establishing other useful applications for these materials, going beyond the prevalent use in low-cost solar cell technologies. To this goal, the multiple possibilities that can be explored rely on the modification of the lattice structure, creating libraries of different compounds with their own peculiar properties.
Teresa Gatti and colleagues from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, from the University of Padova and from the Italian Research Council have recently reviewed these topics, conducting a comprehensive examination of the recent literature in the search for two main strategies that alter the native lead halide perovskite structure. They defined them endogenous and exogenous strategies (see Figure), the first one accounting for all the compositional engineering methodologies that were applied during the last 10 years for the internal modification of the material lattice, while the second one referring to the realization of nanocomposites, in which lead halide perovskites and other materials are combined together. This review encompasses historic, theoretical, spectroscopic, electrical and technological contents, in order to provide a comprehensive starting point for defining a new era in lead halide perovskites research.
M. Righetto, et al. Prog. Mater. Sci. 110, 100639 (2020) DOI: 10.1016/j.pmatsci.2020.100639
This picture was submitted by Dr. Teresa Gatti.