Perovskites are minerals of metal halides that are relatively inexpensive and composed of elements that are abundant in the earth?s crust. Recent discoveries have revealed that very thin films of perovskite materials can convert sunlight into electricity with efficiencies approaching those of the best available crystalline solar cell technologies, which are still relatively expensive. This workshop will bring together active researchers in perovskite based solar cells from two countries that are leaders in solar energy research, United States and Israel, to discuss recent advances in this area and propose new and relevant directions for continued research. These discussions are designed to lead to the development of collaborative projects between the US and Israel that will leverage the unique academic research strengths of each country to accelerate the advancement of perovskite-based solar cells at the global scale. The workshop is scheduled to take place September 21-22, 2014 at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. The workshop will support the travel costs of 12-15 invited researchers with diverse backgrounds from the US to visit Israel and interact with an equal number of Israeli researchers at the workshop site.
This award will support the organization and travel expenses for a focused bi-lateral Israel-US workshop titled "Status and perspectives for the hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite-based and ?inspired systems as future energy materials", to be held on September 21-22, 2014 at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. The workshop will gather a group of about 12-15 US researchers from diverse backgrounds and a similar number of Israeli researchers, with expertise in perovskite-based systems, energy conversion devices, sustainability, chemistry and physics of organic and inorganic semiconductor materials.
The hybrid perovskite light absorbers, in particular the organic amine lead halide materials, have made stunning progress in the area of photovoltaic devices in a short time, leading to solar conversion efficiencies of close to 20% to date. Such rapid progress, using materials grown from solution in a relatively simple manner is astonishing. Yet, relatively little is known at this point about the factors that allow facile, low-temperature preparation of films with optoelectronic properties that are mostly found only for materials made with metal-organic chemical vapor deposition or molecular beam epitaxy, the nature and role of bulk and surface defects, or even the role of the organic elements that decorate the lead halide core. In addition, their stability, especially under illumination, applied voltage or temperature fluctuations, is not really known. Questions as to what are the crucial issues in key phenomena of light absorption and charge carrier separation and collection, as well as long-term stability of the materials need to be addressed not only per se, but also because formulating them correctly can open new directions of research. This workshop of experts from both the US and Israel, with knowledge of inorganic and organic synthesis, solid-state materials experiment and theory, and sustainability, will be brought together to take a speculative look at what might be a transformative evolution in the science and future technologies of devices based on pervoskite materials. This workshop is designed to delineate the key foundational knowledge to enable constructive and innovative thinking about the future. This workshop will provide a unique opportunity at the exact right time to really define key future binational energy research approaches that could be potentially disruptive. Finally, the workshop will recruit for a strong participation from underrepresented members of the US academic community, who through interactions with their Israeli colleagues will enhance their access to int
