Perovskites: the New frontier in Photovoltaic Energy Conversion and Light Emitting Diodes

Very recently, a new class of materials, an organic/inorganic hybrid system comprising an organic molecule incorporated within an inorganic cage (metal trihalide perovksites), has made very rapid progress for PV energy conversion, with conversion efficiencies of ~20% having been achieved in thin films. In this talk, I will address some of the fundamental electronic and optical properties of this system, and data on devices, both solar PV devices, and LEDs. This material system holds a great promise for not only thin film solar cells, and inexpensive LED devices, but also for use in tandem cells with c-Si solar cells, so as to increase the efficiency of c-Si to 30+%., using a very inexpensive deposition technology. I will also discuss the potential fundamental problems that one must overcome to fulfill the promise of this new material system.