On Mar. 2, BK21 PLUS held a special seminar in LG Cooperative Electronics Engineering Building Auditorium 101 from 11A.M. - 12:15P.M. The topic was Air-Exposure Effects on Spiro-MeOTAD Films and Implications for Perovskite Solar Cell Stability. The presenter was Yabing Qi, a professor of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST). The host of this seminar was Professor Tae-Woo Lee (MSE).
The BK21 (Brain Korea 21) is a project organized by the Ministry of Education to create competent and international universities. Selected universities mainly specialize in science, technology, and strategies that establish their international competence. This project focused on developing national competitiveness and cultivating talented people. The BK21 project is divided into three six-year steps. The first step of the project was carried out from 1999 - 2005 and the second step from 2006 - 2012. As part of the third step, the Ministry of Education established BK21 PLUS, which started in 2013 and will continue until 2019. The BK21 PLUS is a gigantic project linked with WCU (World Class University).
In this lecture, Prof. Qi introduced how to make perovskite-based solar cells more efficient by exposing them to air. He also explained the importance of this achievement. Perovskite-based solar cells have garnered much attention because of low-cost fabrication and high efficiency. Perovskite is formed at a relatively high temperature, 160 degrees Celsius. However, hybrid chemical vapor deposition simplifies the process since it eliminates the need for the post-annealing process. Furthermore, it makes pinhole free, and it makes high coverage and smooth morphology. The cells made by CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) were found to be stable with time and retained almost the same efficiency after approximately 1,100 hours of storage in dry nitrogen gas.