The element perovskite could lead to big changes in the solar and LED categories, according to recently reported upon research.
Perovskite, according to a website that focuses solely on the mineral, is superconductive and magnetoresistance. Its structure, the site says, makes it “perfect for enabling low-cost, efficient photovoltaics.” It also will be a factor in electric vehicle batteries, sensors, lasers and other high tech tools.
Yesterday, the Princeton University website reported that engineering researchers have used perovskite in a manner that could improve the manufacture of LEDs: The researchers developed a technique in which nanoscale perovskite particles self-assemble to produce more efficient, stable and durable perovskite-based LEDs. The advance, reported Jan. 16 in Nature Photonics, could speed the use of perovskite technologies in commercial applications such as lighting, lasers and television and computer screens.
The story says that the research was supported by the U.S. Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) and the DuPont Young Professor Award program.
Perovskite is most often associated with solar research. Last week, Energy Manager Today posted a piece that referred to research being done by Sam Stranks, an experimental physicist at Cambridge University in England. Coating solar cells with the mineral, he says, increases efficiency by 30 percent to 50 percent.
Research continues around the globe. The University of New South Wales in Sydney said in December that it achieve 12.1 percent energy conversion efficiency for a 2.5 square inch perovskite solar cell. That, said, New Atlas, is “at least 10 times the size of current certified high-efficiency perovskite cells.”
