Abstract
Aslihan Babayigit obtained her bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences at Hasselt University in 2013. After having completed her degree with a Masters in Bioelectronics and Nanotechnology in 2015, she is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Sciences as a PhD fellow of Research Fund Flanders (FWO) in the Nanostructure Physics Group at the Institute for Materials Research (IMO-IMOMEC) of Hasselt University. Her current research involves various physical and chemical aspects of the film formation of photovoltaic perovskites, where additional focus is directed toward their environmental screening and eco-friendly processing.
Jan D'Haen is full professor at Hasselt University. After obtaining his PhD in 1996 on plasma nitriding of pure iron, he became responsible for several physical and chemical analytical characterization techniques at the Materials Research Institute (IMO) of Hasselt University. His specialties are diffraction (XRD, EBSD) and scanning and transmission electron microscopy, investigating a wide range of material classes, including hybrid metal halide perovskites.
Hans-Gerd Boyen studied mathematics and physics at the University of Karlsruhe where he also obtained a PhD in Physics. Subsequently, he worked as post-doc at the University of Basel (habilitation in physics) and as senior scientist at the University of Ulm focusing on topics in nanoscience and nanotechnology. In 2007, he became full professor of Experimental Physics at the Institute for Materials Research (IMO-IMOMEC) at Hasselt University, heading the Nanostructure Physics Group ever since. Research topics include nanomaterials, molecular layers, cubic boron nitride, perovskite-based thin film photovoltaics, surfaces and interfaces in general, all studied by exploiting a variety of electron spectroscopic tools.
Bert Conings obtained his master’s degree in Applied Physics (Nanoscience and Technology) at the Eindhoven University of Technology (NL) in 2008. He completed his PhD on hybrid solar cells at Hasselt University (BE) in 2012. He was then appointed as postdoctoral researcher at Hasselt University, where he became a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) in 2013. His core focus is perovskite photovoltaics at the device level and the material level. More generally, his interests include the electro-optical characterization of nanostructured materials for applications in energy and life sciences.
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The rapid development of lead halide perovskites has already laid much of the groundwork for the eventual commercialization of corresponding opto-electronics, particularly solar cells. Nevertheless, several key challenges remain in the lab-to-fab process, among which is the convenient fabrication of large-area high-quality perovskite films. Here, gas quenching is highlighted as a deposition strategy that has been proven reproducible and composition independent in a laboratory environment, and shows clear signs of vast potential for large-area fabrication.