Scientists melted the edges of growing solar crystals on purpose, and it pushed perovskite efficiency to 26%

[u/intengineering]

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/temporary-liquid-boosts-solar-cell-efficiency

Researchers at UC San Diego, with Princeton and Sungkyunkwan University, added zinc bromide and methylammonium chloride to a perovskite solution, and when heated, the mix briefly turned the crystal boundaries liquid. That let the crystals rearrange into a more orderly structure, then leave zinc behind to neutralize defects as the extra salt evaporated.

The resulting devices hit about 24 to 26% efficiency and kept most of it after eight weeks under simulated sunlight. The team says the electron-hole pairs lasted longer than any reported for a direct-bandgap semiconductor, and the trick worked on every perovskite composition they tried.

[u/Aggressive-Work-9194]

But do the cells last more than a year?

I guess cool that we're learning more about efficiency structures but... why are we still studying perovskites?