Research Background and Recent Progress of Perovskite Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics of organic–inorganic lead halide perovskite materials have made rapid progress in solar cell performance, surpassing the top efficiency of compound semiconductor solar cells such as CdTe and CIGS within a decade. Simple and inexpensive solution processes applied for perovskite preparation demonstrate the immense potential of this thin-film solar cell technology as a low-cost alternative to current commercially available photovoltaic technologies. Significant developments in almost all aspects of perovskite solar cells and discoveries of interesting and noteworthy properties of such hybrid perovskites have occurred in recent times. This first chapter gives an overview of the perovskite-based photovoltaics and optoelectronics, describing the fundamentals, recent research progress, present status, and our views on future prospects of this research field. In particular, it focuses on strategies to improve the intrinsic and extrinsic (environmental) stabilities of high-efficiency devices. Challenges of compositional engineering of the hybrid perovskite structure are discussed including the potential of all-inorganic and lead-free perovskite materials. Based on the present status of cutting-edge research, prospects for perovskite-based photovoltaic devices, including the development of all-inorganic and lead-free perovskites and device applications to space environment, are also described. In addition to the aforementioned major topics, we provide the background of our experience with perovskite materials for the first solar cell application, inspiring young researchers in chemistry and physics to identify and work on challenging interdisciplinary research problems through exchanges between academia and industry.