October Highlights: Unveiling New Tools and Celebrating Research Milestones

October has been an eventful month with notable research developments across multiple fronts. We are excited to share some key highlights with you.

New R&D Projects. At Fluxim, academic research meets enterprise forming a solid R&D core. This fuels the development of our research tools. So when proposals get funding it’s time to celebrate. We are happy to share two new R&D projects on which we will be collaborating: PACSTATE and DISCO. They will be aiming to enhance display energy efficiency and increase perovskite solar module longevity. Read about these innovative projects.

Watch LITOS LITE: Our most recent instrument Litos Lite, was developed to accelerate perovskite solar cell testing. Its capability for parallel JV (on up to 56 devices) and stability measurements make it a noteworthy addition to your R&D toolkit. Watch how Litos Lite is reshaping perovskite solar cell testing here.

Research Milestones: Our trusted R&D tools, Setfos and Paios, have enabled the publication of hundreds of papers, showcasing their crucial role in ongoing research. This year has brought a fresh trend. We see a steady stream of papers linked to our latest software and instrument releases, widening the scope of our impact. We are excited to share the substantial work being done. Discover here how leading research groups are using our tools.

Battery Research: We need a lot of batteries in the coming years. For many reasons, current technology won´t suffice. We are pleased to share how Fluxim will be contributing to this critical research field as we join colleagues from the iBAT Association on Tuesday, 7th Nov. 2023, for a live webinar. Find out more and Register here>

Conference Spotlight: Our colleague Dr. Daniele Braga has been invited to present at the 2023 European PVPMC Workshop. This is a great platform to examine the technical challenges and opportunities related to PV performance modeling and the digitalization of the PV sector, with a specific focus on ground-mounted and building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs). Learn more about PVPMC here and meet up with Daniele if you attend.


New R&D Projects

Project: Display Innovation, Simulation, Creation and Optimization (DISCO)

Project Partners: Excyton Ltd (UK), University of Durham (UK), Fluxim AG (CH)

Duration: 18 months

Funding: Innosuisse

Together with our colleagues at Excyton and Durham University, we will produce a Prototype TurboLED Display and a Display Calculation Tool. The prototype, aimed at laptops and built in collaboration with well-known display manufacturers, will target power savings of over 40% against standard RGB OLED displays through an innovative design.

This project aims to capitalize on the expanding global OLED market, projected to surpass $60 billion by 2026. Alongside, Fluxim is developing a versatile Display Calculation Tool to compute power consumption in RGB arrays, not just for TurboLED but also for forthcoming display technologies. This tool, integrating with Setfos, will enable the optimization of RGB structures for specific display concepts, thereby identifying power-efficient sub-pixel intensity combinations. With no current market tool offering such optimization, this innovation holds promise to be helpful for a lot of users in both industry and academia.


Project: Packaging technology, stability evaluation, and non-destructive testing for commercialization of perovskite solar modules (PACSTATE)

Project Partners: Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Solaronix SA, Fluxim AG, Pusan National University (Korea), UNIS (Korea), Ajou University (Korea)

Duration: 36 months

Funding: Innosuisse

The PACSTATE project aims to advance the commercialization of perovskite solar modules through innovative packaging technology, stability evaluation, and non-destructive testing. The core objectives include the development of new encapsulation and anti-degradation materials, alongside a commercial system for accelerated stability evaluation of these modules.

A significant focus is also on advanced non-destructive testing and modeling methods to optimize the solar module. The project's innovative content spans creating Anti-Degradation Blocking Layers to prevent perovskite degradation, developing high-quality Crosslinking-based Encapsulation Materials to inhibit deacetylation, and employing optimized methods for lifetime testing and degradation mechanisms identification. Furthermore, non-contact wideband terahertz imaging methods and multiphysics modeling are part of the R&D, aimed at optimizing the multilayer structure of the packaged modules. The ultimate goal is to upscale commercial perovskite PV modules with the new packaging processes.

The market potential is high. Both the new encapsulation materials and the enhanced lifetime testing systems will be exploited by both academia and industry. The project partners aim to introduce their new products to the market within a year post-project completion, indicating a rapid transition from research to market implementation.


Watch what LITOS LITE can do

LITOS LITE, a leap forward in perovskite solar cell testing. Perform parallel JV and stability assessments on organic and perovskite solar cells, saving you hundreds of hours of testing.

Key Features:

🌟High-throughput JV, stability & lifetime measurements.
🌟ISOS protocol compatibility with individual MPP tracking.
🌟Up to 56 independent channels (minimum 24).
🌟Custom-made sample holder. Compatible with any solar simulator.
🌟Temperature control up to 100°C; easy sample alignment with red backlight LEDs.

Why LITOS LITE?

✅ Speed & Efficiency: Test multiple solar cells simultaneously, saving invaluable characterization time.
✅ Precision: Accurate measurements with voltage ranges up to ± 10V, max current of 50mA/channel.
✅ Versatility: Customizable sample holders for various layouts.

Explore Some of the Recent Publications

Testimonials:

“5-star endorsement for LITOS LITE and FLUXIM assistance. A stellar addition to my lab, establishing a proficient system for monitoring stability under varying conditions of our perovskite solar cells! Exceptional interaction with FLUXIM for setup, training, and support! Highly commended!”

Prof. Giulia Grancini, Director of ERC HYNANO project and pvsquared2 team and University of Pavia, Italy

 

“Recently, we received a Litos Lite with 56 channels. I am so glad that the instrument integrates an LED-based sun simulator. This is far more convenient than replacing Xenon bulbs all the time. The custom-made sample holders work for our 3 different sample layouts, and with the parallel JV characterization and MPPT, we are saving a lot of time. I also appreciate the good support received by the Fluxim team.”

Justin Chen, Reinhold Dauskardt Group, Stanford University

📩 Intrigued? Get a DEMO of LITOS LITE


Research Milestones

It’s not often we get to share work from research groups around the world that cover our full range of R&D tools but today is that day. Click the image to access the paper.


View all the research supported by our tools here

Comparative analysis of outdoor energy harvest of organic and silicon solar modules for applications in BIPV systems

Sarmad Feroze, Andreas Distler, Karen Forberich, Iftikhar Ahmed Channa, Bernd Doll, Christoph J. Brabec, Hans-Joachim Egelhaaf,

Solar Energy, Volume 263, 2023, 111894, ISSN 0038-092X,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2023.111894

The Stabilization of CsPbI3xBrx Phase by Lowering Annealing Temperature for Efficient All-Inorganic Perovskite Solar Cells

Montecucco, R., Pica, G., Romano, V., De Boni, F., Cavalli, S., Bruni, G., Quadrivi, E., De Bastiani, M., Prato, M., Po, R. and Grancini, G. (2023),

Sol. RRL 2300358.

https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202306040

Vapor Phase Infiltration Improves Thermal Stability of Organic Layers in Perovskite Solar Cells

Andrés-Felipe Castro-Méndez, Jamie P. Wooding, Selma Fairach, Carlo A. R. Perini, Emily K. McGuinness, Jacob N. Vagott, Ruipeng Li, Sanggyun Kim, Vivek Brahmatewari, Nicholas Dentice, Mark D. Losego, and Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena

ACS Energy Lett. 2023, 8, 1, 844–852 ,Publication Date: January 3, 2023

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.2c02272


Battery Tuesdays

Scheduled for next Tuesday (4 pm GMT +1), Beat Ruhstaller and Sandra Jenatsch will delve into the latest projects and R&D tools that are enabling researchers to develop next-generation battery technology.

They will be joined by Christian Ochsenbein from the iBAT Association who are hosting the webinar.

Topics to be covered

✔️Fluxim company profile and history
✔️Analysis of ionic charge transport in solid-state batteries by frequency and time domain characterization
✔️Modeling mixed electronic-ionic transport in solid-state batteries
✔️Optical in-operando analysis of charge and discharge processes in solid electrolytes

This is a great opportunity to expand your knowledge and network with like-minded researchers.

🗓 Date: Tue, Nov 07
⏰ Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM GMT+1
🖥 Online
👉Register: https://ibat.swiss/event/battery-tuesday-07-11-2023/

Secure your spot today and be part of a discussion.

Feel free to spread the word and bring along colleagues who might benefit from this session.


Conference Spotlight


European PVPMC Workshop, November 8-9, 2023 | Mendrisio, Switzerland

The 2023 European PVPMC Workshop delves into PV performance modeling intricacies and the digital transformation sweeping the PV sector, spotlighting ground-mounted and Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) systems and insights on diverse system types.

Fluxim's Participation: Dr. Daniele Braga is set to contribute to the workshop with his invited talk:

"Analysis of Partial Shading and EY Optimisations of Coloured Perovskite BIPVs" | 11:30, November 9, 2023.

If you are attending this workshop Daniele will be happy to discuss how our R&D tools can be used in your research.