Accelerated Discovery of Perovskite-Inspired Materials through Robotized Screening Including Solar Cell Characterization

Currently, there is a strong need to accelerate development of systematic and robotized procedures for discovery of photovoltaic materials in order to aid the transition toward the use of clean and sustainable energy sources. Perovskite-type materials represent a broad class of compounds that have recently attracted great interest for application as photovoltaic materials. Such materials offer a vast chemical and structural space, qualifying them as an interesting starting point for further exploration using robotized screening methods. In this work, the development and application of a robotized procedure for the screening and solar cell characterization of perovskite-inspired materials is presented. Several combinations of cationic dyes and metal halides were examined by using a fully automated robotic screening cycle, including solar cell characterization based on triple mesoscopic solar cell devices. It is shown that the presented methodology is promising for the detection of new photovoltaic materials, which is demonstrated by the discovery of a selection of photovoltaic candidates. Some of the discovered candidates, for instance [QR]-[PbI3], were further characterized theoretically and experimentally.