A perovskite is any material with a crystal structure following the formula ABX3, which was first discovered as the mineral called perovskite, which consists of calcium titanium oxide (CaTiO3). The mineral was first discovered in the Ural mountains of Russia by Gustav Rose in 1839 and named after Russian mineralogist L. A. Perovski (1792–1856). 'A' and 'B' are two positively charged ions (i.e. cations), often of very different sizes, and X is a negatively charged ion (an anion, frequently oxide) that bonds to both cations. The 'A' atoms are generally larger than the 'B' atoms. The ideal cubic structure has the B cation in 6-fold coordination, surrounded by an octahedron of anions, and the A cation in 12-fold cuboctahedral coordination. Additional perovskite forms may exist where either/both the A and B sites have a configuration of A1x-1A2x and/or B1y-1B2y and the X may deviate from the ideal coordination configuration as ions within the A and B sites undergo changes in their oxidation states.
In the 19th century, it was observed that the sunlight striking certain materials generates detectable electric current – the photoelectric effect. This discovery laid the foundation for solar cells. Solar cells have gone on to be used in many applications. They have historically been used in situations where electrical power from the grid was unavailable.
Henning Sirringhaus is Hitachi Professor of Electron Device Physics, Head of the Microelectronics Group and a member of the Optoelectronics Group at the Cavendish Laboratory. He is also a Fellow of Churchill College at the University of Cambridge.
A perovskite solar cell (PSC) is a type of solar cell that includes a perovskite-structured compound, most commonly a hybrid organic–inorganic lead or tin halide-based material as the light-harvesting active layer. Perovskite materials, such as methylammonium lead halides and all-inorganic cesium lead halide, are cheap to produce and simple to manufacture.
Henry James Snaith is a professor in physics in the Clarendon Laboratory at the University of Oxford. Research from his group has led to the creation of a new research field, based on halide perovskites for use as solar absorbers. Many individuals who were PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in Snaith's group have now established research groups, independent research portfolios and commercial enterprises. He co-founded Oxford Photovoltaics in 2010 to commercialise perovskite based tandem solar cells.
Methylammonium lead halides (MALHs) are solid compounds with perovskite structure and a chemical formula of [CH3NH3]+Pb2+(X−)3, where X = Cl, Br or I. They have potential applications in solar cells, lasers, light-emitting diodes, photodetectors, radiation detectors, scintillator, magneto-optical data storage and hydrogen production.
Laura Maria Herz is a professor of physics at the University of Oxford. She works on femtosecond spectroscopy for the analysis of semiconductor materials.
Eilaf Egap is an adjunct assistant professor of Materials Science at Rice University. She works on imaging techniques and biomaterials for early diagnostics and drug delivery. She was a Massachusetts Institute of Technology MLK Visiting Scholar in 2011.
Charge modulation spectroscopy is an electro-optical spectroscopy technique tool. It is used to study the charge carrier behavior of organic field-effect transistors. It measures the charge introduced optical transmission variation by directly probing the accumulation charge at the burning interface of semiconductor and dielectric layer where the conduction channel forms.
Hemamala Indivari Karunadasa is an assistant professor of chemistry at Stanford University. She works on hybrid organic – inorganic materials, such as perovskites, for clean energy and large area lighting.
Yi Cui is a Chinese-American materials scientist, specializing in nanotechnology, and energy and environment-related research. Cui is the Fortinet Founders Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and by courtesy, of Chemistry at Stanford University. He currently serves as the director of the Precourt Institute for Energy, succeeding Arun Majumdar and Sally Benson. He has been named the inaugural faculty director of the Sustainability Accelerator within the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. He also serves as a co-director of the Bay Area Photovoltaics Consortium, the Battery500 Consortium, and the StorageX initiative. He is a faculty member of Stanford Photon Science of SLAC, principal investigator at the Stanford Institute for Materials & Energy Sciences, and a senior fellow at Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and European Academy of Engineering, and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Materials Research Society (MRS), Electrochemical Society (ECS), and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). He has been one of the world's most-cited researchers and most influential scientific minds. He has published over 806 research papers with an H-index of 267. He currently serves as the Executive Editor of Nano Letters from ACS Publications.
Nam-Gyu Park is Distinguished Professor and Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)-Fellow at School of Chemical Engineering, SKKU. His research focuses on high efficiency mesoscopic nanostructured solar cells.
Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin is an Indian-Swiss chemist and materials scientist who conducts research on Perovskite solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells, and light-emitting diodes. He is a professor at EPFL and the director of the Laboratory for Molecular Engineering of Functional Materials at School of Basic Sciences.
Giulia Grancini is an Italian physicist who is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pavia. Her work considers new materials for photovoltaic devices, including perovskites and polymer-based materials. In 2020, Grancini was named the Royal Society of Chemistry Journal of Materials Chemistry Lecturer.
Shannon W. Boettcher is an American chemist and professor. He teaches in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Oregon. His research is at the intersection of materials science and electrochemistry, with a focus on fundamental aspects of energy conversion and storage. He has been named a DuPont Young Professor, a Cottrell Scholar, a Sloan Fellow, and a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar. An ISI highly cited researcher, in 2019 he founded the Oregon Center for Electrochemistry and, in 2020, launched the nation's first targeted graduate program in electrochemical technology. In 2021, he was named a Blavatnik National Award Finalist.
Fred Wudl is an American materials scientist, academic researcher. He is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Materials Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Efrat Lifshitz is an Israeli chemist at the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry and the Solid-State Institute, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (Technion-IIT). Lifshitz's research is known for pioneering advances in developing and studying low-dimensional semiconductors by exploring the relationship between their optical properties and magnetism.
Ana Flávia Nogueira is a Brazilian chemist who is a Full Professor at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) since 2004. Her research considers nanostructured materials for solar energy conversion. She was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Science in 2022.
Annamaria Petrozza is an American chemist who is a professor at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. Her research considers sustainable materials for optoelectronic devices. She was awarded the 2022 Materials Research Society Award in Innovation in Materials Characterization.
Samuel David Stranks is a Professor of Optoelectronics in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge.
