Research Blogs
Five Perovskite Questions Setfos Can Answer From Your Own Measurements
Perovskite papers often describe a result without explaining it. Non-radiative recombination. Hysteresis artifact. Retained 90% of PCE. Five questions where fitting a physical model to your own data identifies the mechanism.
Characterization Suite 4.5 helps researchers get more from Paios, Phelos and Litos
Characterization Suite 4.5 enhances the software environment for Paios, Phelos and Litos, helping researchers move faster from measurement to interpretation. With new post-processing tools, expanded measurement capabilities, improved stability workflows and a stronger 64-bit software foundation, the release supports more efficient OLED, solar cell, photodetector and ageing studies.
Reverse-bias Stressing of Perovskite Solar Cells
This study shows that reverse-bias in perovskite solar cells can trigger degradation even before breakdown occurs. Rather than immediate shunting, milder reverse-bias stress leads to progressive recombination-driven performance loss and reversible dark-spot formation, highlighting a key commercialization challenge under realistic operating conditions.
Stability insights at 85 °C with Litos Lite, Paios and Setfos
This study shows how Litos Lite, Paios and Setfos helped uncover the links between electrical behaviour, structural changes and degradation in perovskite solar cells operated at 85 °C, enabling clearer insights into stability mechanisms.
Setfos modeling of halide perovskite solar cells with focus on their mixed ionic-electronic conducting properties: a step-by-step tutorial
Learn how to create a realistic digital twin of a halide perovskite solar cell using Fluxim’s Setfos. This step-by-step guide explains how to combine Paios measurements with drift-diffusion and optical modeling to capture ionic migration, hysteresis, and impedance behavior—helping researchers link device physics to performance and stability.
Beyond 2100 Hours: ETU-Stabilized Perovskite Solar Cells Demonstrate Exceptional Lifetime on Fluxim's Litos Platform
Breakthrough stability for perovskite solar cells: By suppressing stacking faults using an ETU additive, FA-rich perovskite devices achieved over 2100 hours of >93% PCE retention. These results, validated on Fluxim’s Litos platform, show the power of crystal facet engineering combined with precision stability testing.
Photon recycling in perovskite solar cells assessed by a detailed-balance compatible dipole emission model
In solar cells, photon recycling leads to an increase in the open-circuit voltage of the device. This tutorial explains how to exploit self-absorption to increase the efficiency of the solar cell.
Investigating Current Matching and Hysteresis in Perovskite-Silicon Tandem Solar Cells with Drift-Diffusion Simulations
Perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells are revolutionizing photovoltaics, but optimizing current matching between layers is critical for achieving peak efficiency. A mismatch can lead to power losses, limiting overall performance. In this blog, we explore how optical and electrical simulations help fine-tune device design, ensuring both sub-cells generate maximum power.
Discover how precise modeling can boost tandem cell efficiency and accelerate the path to commercialization.
Aging and Characterization of High-Bandgap Perovskite Solar Cells
Explore how advanced material and optoelectrical characterization techniques uncover the degradation mechanisms in high-bandgap perovskite solar cells. Discover the impact of temperature on aging, insights from electrical characterization, and the significance of parallel stressing for statistical validation.
Highest Efficiency Solar Cells: Perovskite Solar Cells (2026 Update)
Discover LONGi's latest 35.5% perovskite–silicon tandem solar cell efficiency record, announced in July 2026. Explore how solar cell simulations help optimise performance and advance multi-junction photovoltaic technologies.
Estimation of Charge Carrier Mobility in Solar Cells: An Introduction to CELIV
Dive into the world of mobility in solar cells, and explore how CELIV measurements help determine charge carrier mobility in thin-film solar cells like perovskite and organic solar cells. Learn about various CELIV techniques and their applications in this comprehensive research blog.
Perovskite Solar Cell Upscaling Prediction
The monolithic module design is a suitable solution to upscale the lateral dimensions of perovskite solar cells. The device's active area is divided into smaller cells with an interconnection gap. The narrower the subcell, the lower the resistance of each subcell with consequent improvement of the FF. However, the interconnecting gap between each subcell is an inactive area, that reduces the total efficiency of the module. The interconnection is composed of lines P1, P2, and P3, which respectively separate the TCO, the photoactive layer, and the top contact between consecutive subcells.
We used the simulation software Laoss to optimize a perovskite photovoltaic minimodule. This procedure can replace the standard experimental trial-and-error approach that is commonly used to upscale perovskite solar cells.
Current Losses Caused by Mobile Ions in Perovskite Solar Cells
The presence of ions limits the charge extraction in perovskite solar cells, causing current losses. We used drift-diffusion simulation to validate this hypothesis and propose solutions to limit their influence – hence optimizing the power conversion efficiency (PCE).
Quantification of trap states by thermally stimulated current in thin film solar cells
The performance of light-emitting (LEDs) and photovoltaic (PV) devices depends on the quality of the photoactive semiconductor material. The unintentional introduction of defects in the semiconductor material due to material impurities or during the fabrication process causes the deviation from optimal performance.
These defects are referred to as trap states, or in short “traps”, which are energetic states within the bandgap of a semiconductor. In general, traps can occur due to material impurities (in the bulk) or at the interfaces between layers of different materials.
In the following blog post, we will present how to characterize the trap states with the technique called thermally stimulated current (TSC). We also propose a method to reliably interpret the TSC results based on drift-diffusion simulations.
How ISOS Protocols Are Used to Assess Perovskite Solar Cell Stability
How can we assess the long-term stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs)?
This guide summarizes the latest community-driven recommendations for perovskite stability testing—built upon the ISOS protocols originally developed for organic photovoltaics. It outlines tailored aging experiments, explains key ISOS categories (D, L, O, T, LT, etc.), and explores how tools like Litos Lite help ensure reproducible, standard-compliant stability measurements.
Fitting routine for a reliable transient photoluminescence simulation of perovskite films
Transient photoluminescence (trPL) characterization experiments allow to analysis charge carrier dynamics and identify the recombination channels of the device structure under investigation.
Useful information that can be extracted includes the quantification of radiative and non-radiative lifetimes, charge carrier extraction from differential lifetime computation, and the influence of the interfaces on the recombination mechanism. Fitting the experimental results with simulations further supports the analysis of the obtained data. However, qualitatively comparable fittings can be obtained with different sets of simulation parameters.
Using the fully-coupled, 1-dimensional optoelectronic simulation software Setfos, the trPL signal of a simple glass/perovskite structure was simulated and a routine is suggested to ascertain the reliability of the results. This routine is based on experimentally measured material properties and the analysis of the band diagram evolution during the photoluminescence transient. The validity of the simulated trPL is also recursively verified by fitting the decay with a bi-exponential function to extract the lifetimes of the recombination mechanisms.
How to quantify Non-radiative voltage losses and recombination in solar cells
The open-circuit voltage (Voc) is the electrical potential difference between the two terminals of a solar cell, when there is no external load applied, hence no electric current flows. Correspondingly, this means that, when a voltage equivalent to the Voc is applied to the terminals of the solar cell, the recombination current (Jrec, which typically follows a non-ideal diode equation) and the photocurrent (Jph, the current generated by illuminating the solar cell) are equal, hence the net current is zero (Jrec=Jph at V= Voc).
Solar cells often present also non-radiative recombination mechanisms, in addition to the radiative one, as a result of poor material quality and non-idealities. To increase the Voc and thus potentially the power conversion efficiency, it is necessary to minimize the ΔVoc,nrad. It is, therefore, necessary to quantify the total loss and determine its origin.
Electroluminescence (EL) and photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) allow to directly extract the ΔVoc,nrad for thin-film solar cells such as perovskite solar cells, kesterite, perovskite, organic, or quantum dot. solar cells.
After quantifying the losses, the combination of capacitance-voltage (CV), temperature-dependent voltage characteristics (JV-T), and capacitance-frequency (Cf-T) measurements are essential to identify the recombination mechanisms.
Why Perovskite Solar cells with High Efficiency Show Small iV-curve Hysteresis
In many perovskite solar cells, hysteresis is observed between the forward and reverse current-voltage (IV) scans. This IV curve hysteresis can be problematic for the correct determination of the Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE). While the exact origin of the IV curve hysteresis has remained a topic of debate, it is now widely accepted that mobile ions are the principal cause. However, it is still the subject of ongoing debates about how exactly mobile ions influence the device operation.
In this blog, we are showing how a proper drift-diffusion simulation can help in understanding how mobile ions are affecting the JV characteristics of a perovskite solar cell.
Increase the efficiency of a Perovskite-Silicon Tandem Solar Cell with a Full Electro-Optical Simulation
The emerging solar cell technology of perovskite solar cells already reach an efficiency of 25.5%. The advantage of perovskite solar cells is that they absorb light better in the visible part of the spectrum whereas silicon-based solar cells can absorb near-infrared photons as well. This means that by combining these two technologies in tandem multi-junction solar cells, it will be possible to absorb light over a wide range of the spectrum very efficiently. Theoretically, efficiencies up to almost 40% are expected to be possible.
In this blog post, we will show how SETFOS can be used to analyze a tandem solar cell optically as well as electrically. This simulation approach reveals bottlenecks in the optimization and shows pathways for improvement. This study has been presented at the EUPVSEC 2020 by Urs Aeberhard.