Fiscal Year 2016, Tokyo Institute of Technology ASPIRE League Research Grant
Selected Research Project for Type 1 in FY2016
NamePrincipal
ResearcherDepartment
schoolat Tokyo Tech
Position
HKUST
KAIST

Co-researchers
NTU
Tsinghua

Yuji Wada
Department of Chemical Science and Engineering
School of Materials and Chemical Technology
Professor
Shihe Yang, Professor
Department of Chemistry
Byungha Shin, Assistant Professor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Nripan Mathews, Assistant Professor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Hong Lin, Professor
School of Materials Science and Engineering
High-throughput Creation of Ideal Interfaces ofSubject of the research project

Commercially-applicable Organic-Inorganic Hybrid
Perovskite Solar Cells
The mesoscopic organic-inorganic hybrid solid-state solar
cell based on organic and inorganic semiconductors (SC)combined with perovskite crystals (perovskite cell) is ahighly attractive subject due to its high conversion
efficiency, >20% (certified in NREL), and ease of
production based on printable processes. The challenges
in developing this solar cell are proposed as 1)
construction of ideal interfaces for more efficient charge

Summary of the research projecttransfer, 2) stable photon-absorber in ambient condition,and 3) alternative semiconducting and photon-absorbing
materials to replace Pb in perovskite derivatives. The
results of the preceding collaborative research on
dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) among the laboratories
of organic chemistry, materials sciences, and physicalchemistry in our department in Tokyo Tech will be
extensively applied to the perovskite cell that shares1

common meso-porous n-type semiconductor, TiO2, forefficient charge separation and transport. In addition,
the analytical techniques of charge transfers at interfaces
established in the DSSC area can also be applied tofurther understanding those of the perovskite cell. The
principal researcher's pioneering work on microwave(MW) chemistry can also be applied to the construction ofwell-ordered and crystalline phase of perovskite withhybrid SC with fewer defects in the crystals that would
affect the device stability and reproducibility. The
collaborators from each university in ASPIRE League,
namely, Tsinghua Univ., Nanyang Tech., KAIST, andHKUST, will focus on three subjects in this project: 1)
printable perovskite-based hybrid SC without toxic Pb
Summary of the research projectcompounds, 2) highly stable and low-cost hole transportlayer, and 3) highly-reactive carrier transport interface
createdbyinterface

microwave

processing.

The

collaborators are expected to exchange ideas andmaterials necessary for the above subjects.

The

interfacial charge transfer properties are examined toprovide feedback for further materials development. We
will also collaborate to establish the standard techniques
for evaluating device characteristics, which now varies
lab-to-lab and sometimes leading to erroneous ideas about
the characteristics of solar cells. This group will play aleading role in developing the perovskite solar cell in not
onlyAsia,butalsointheworld-wideresearchcollaborations by connecting us with US and EU societiesof perovskite researches.

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