Studying the impact of film thickness variations: Determine optimal thickness for quality.

Implementing a preliminary anti-action step: Prepare the substrate surface.

Applying localized gold coatings: Reduce costs.

Studying the effects of temperature variations: Optimize the conversion process.

*Exploring vapor-phase reactions for Bromine treatment: Control halogen distribution.

This project aims to develop an efficient and reproducible method for synthesizing perovskites from metals with halides. The focus will be on addressing material synthesis challenges, ensuring scalability from laboratory to industrial production, optimizing the physical and chemical properties, and minimizing the environmental impact.

Metal to Metal-Halide Perovskites. By Layla Khateeb, Aviv Dahari.

Solving problems and innovations in chemical processes

Converting Metal to Metal-Halide Perovskites
By : Layla Khateeb and Aviv Dahari.

This parameter is designed as a catch-all for any form of inefficiency internal to or around a system that manifests as a harmful effect on something around the system.  Can also mean any form of pollutant or environmental emission generated by a system or object.  This is a derivative of the 'loss of substance' definition above, the focus however is on "harmful emissions" this aspect is on the production of chemicals, etc. that was not one of the original substances contained within the system.

Object generated harmful factors

Segmentation

Local quality

Intermediary

Inert environment

✔️ 1 - Inventive principles (gold)

The amount, quantity, or a number of a system's materials, substances, parts, fields or sub-systems.  'Substance' is used in its most generic form in the TRIZ context to include any physical or temporal 'thing'.

Quantity of substance/the matter

(Consistency) The degree to which the actual characteristics of a system or object match are specified or required characteristics.  Accuracy.

Manufacturing Precision

Taking Out (Extraction)

Mechanical vibration

Copying

✔️ 2 - Inventive principles (spin coating)

System' Complexity – The number and diversity of elements and element interrelationships within and across the boundaries of a system.  The user may be an element of the system that increases the complexity.  Includes issues like the number of functions, number of interfaces and connections, excessive number of components.    'Control' Complexity – complexity of the control system – either physical components or the algorithms that it contains- used to control a system in delivering useful functions.

Device complexity

Component: Deposition Equipment (Magnetron Sputtering, Spin Coating)

✔️ Urgency - Importance Matrix

Silicon need to be refined to a very high purity and structured into a crystalline form to effectively convert sunlight into electricity

The purification and crystallization processes of silicon involve high temperatures and complex manufacturing steps

The production process of silicon wafers energy-intensive and requires high-purity silicon

Silicon is expensive for manufacturing solar cells

Explore Metal-Halide Perovskites as a potential alternative material for solar cells

Implement advanced purification techniques such as zone refining or chemical vapor deposition to achieve the required high purity levels of silicon.

Collaborate with experts in the field to identify innovative technologies or techniques that can streamline the purification and crystallization processes while maintaining quality standards.

Invest in research and development to find alternative materials with simpler manufacturing processes

Explore alternative materials with similar or better properties but lower cost for solar cell manufacturing

Collaborate with experts in the field of Metal-Halide Perovskites to gain insights and guidance on their practical implementation

✔️5 Whys

Utilizing existing studies to focus trials only on high-potential candidates.

Use a mixture of MAI and the solvent to prevent dissolution of perovskite during washing.

Test a series of shorter reaction times to identify the optimal time for maximum conversion efficiency.

Add a thin protective layer over the perovskite film to improve stability and prevent degradation.

Introduce dopants to the metal films to enhance their electronic properties

Implement a two-step deposition process to create a dual-layer structure

Combine metal halides with organic-inorganic perovskites for enhanced properties

Use automated systems to prepare and mix solutions consistently.

Shift to vapor-phase iodine treatment for more controlled halogen distribution.

Scale up the spin coating technique for continuous film production.

Use different substrates like flexible polymers to enhance film adherence and validate mechanical stability.

Use bromine or chlorine instead of iodine and validate the structural integrity and efficiency of the resulting films.

Using advanced computer simulation techniques to reduce the amount of physical experiments.

The system involves converting metals into halide perovskites (HaP) for solar applications.The primary metals used are lead, gold, and copper: Lead is initially tested for conversion into methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3), while gold and copper are considered safer alternatives. Chemical solutions such as methylammonium iodide (MAI) are used in various concentrations (25mM, 50mM, 250mM) along with additives like iodine (a free halogen), trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Two main conversion techniques are employed: <ol><li>dipping, where metal films are immersed in salt solutions, </li><li>spin coating, an alternative method for creating thin films.</li></ol> Characterization methods include X-ray diffraction (XRD) for analyzing diffraction patterns, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for imaging, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) for compositional analysis, and photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) for studying optical properties and carrier lifetimes. The system aims to efficiently and reproducibly convert metals like gold and copper into halide perovskites, reducing toxicity and enabling the production of efficient and environmentally friendly solar cells. Challenges include toxicity (especially with lead), ensuring reproducibility, and producing small, uniform crystals by controlling chemical parameters and reaction times.

✔️ Effective Brainstorming

The system we are analyzing involves the conversion of metals such as lead, gold, and copper into halide perovskites for solar applications. This process includes depositing metal films on substrates using techniques like magnetron sputtering and spin coating. These films undergo chemical reactions with methylammonium bromide (MABr) in various solvents under controlled conditions. The resulting perovskite films are characterized using methods like XRD, SEM, EDS, PL, and TRPL. The aim is to optimize parameters like MABrconcentration, reaction time, and the addition of halogens to produce stable, efficient, and reproducible perovskite films for solar cells while addressing challenges related to toxicity, cost, and process complexity.