EPFL

Scientists in Switzerland found that perovskites can be used to detect thermal neutrons emitted by radioactive devices. Taking advantage of several properties that also make the materials attractive for solar cell applications, the group was able to fabricate a novel device that could have various practical applications, including in energy generation.

Scientists in Switzerland discovered that certain types of phosphate salt react with lead only in the presence of moisture, to form non-water-soluble phosphates. Incorporating these salts into the architecture of a lead-based perovskite solar cell could greatly reduce the risk of lead seeping into the environment should the cells be damaged, without incurring significant costs or negatively affecting the cell’s performance.

Scientists in Switzerland demonstrated a new type of nanoscale doping for perovskite solar cells. By both improving stability and reducing the chance of the cells leaking any toxic lead into the environment, the discovery addresses two of the largest remaining challenges to the development of the promising class of cell materials.

An international team of scientists fabricated perovskite solar cells which retained almost all of their initial 21% efficiency after 1,000 hours under continuous operation at their maximum power point. The researchers credit this performance to their discovery of an additive that served to ‘block’ ions that cause device degradation, and also hope their work will contribute to an improved understanding of the relationship between efficiency and stability in perovskite PV.

Scientists have set a new efficiency record for a single-junction perovskite solar cell at 25.6%. The cell additionally showed operational stability for 450 hours, and intense electroluminescence with external quantum efficiencies of more than 10%.

Plus, details have been revealed of a 2 MW/2.5 MWh grid scale storage demo project in Switzerland and for a peer-to-peer renewable energy certificate marketplace in Southeast Asia.

Scientists at Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have developed an anode from graphene doped with sodium, which they say could potentially overcome some of the fundamental issues in increasing storage capacity and the lifetime of sodium-ion batteries.

Researchers from Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have used molybdenum oxide as the hole-selective contact in an heterojuction silicon cell. The scientists claim the compound can compete with traditional contacts despite a lower level of optimization.

An international research group achieved the result on a 9 sq mm, triple-cation based, n-i-p structured perovskite cell using low solar concentration levels. Device instability, however, remains a challenge.

Cesium lead black perovskites could be interesting for solar cell development if their crystals are observed in their less efficient but more stable beta phase. The efficiency shortfall can be solved by healing emerging cracks in the surface of the cell using a choline iodide solution, according to an international team of scientists.