Introducing the Program – Materials and Films Innovations for Perovskite Solar
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Why Should You Join TechBlick's Perovskite Connect?
Perovskite Connect (21 & 22 OCT 2026, Estrel Congress Centre, Berlin) brings together the companies, institutes, and equipment makers turning perovskite photovoltaics from a laboratory success story into a manufacturable, bankable product. The event is co-located with Electronics RESHAPED, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED, and Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED.
A perovskite module is a stack of thin layers, and every one of them is a materials problem: transport layers that must be depositable at scale, contacts that survive firing, encapsulants that keep moisture out for 25 years, and electrodes that don't depend on scarce indium. In this article, we highlight talks around the theme of materials innovations — charge transport and interfaces, encapsulation and end-of-life, and transparent electrodes and alternative device concepts. In companion articles, we cover tandems and commercial deployment, and manufacturing equipment and processes.
Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates — one pass gives you access to all four co-located shows, the exhibition, and the TechBlick on-demand library.
Charge Transport & Interface Materials
TU Dortmund (Germany) – Matthias Grotevent presents a room-temperature synthesis of crystalline tin oxide nanocrystals that is remarkably robust: particle size and crystallinity are independent of reaction time, temperature, and precursor concentration. Unlike conventional colloidal syntheses requiring precise parameter control and multi-step purification, this route needs only simple mixing without precise control of fluid dynamics, and transfers monodisperse nanocrystals into a nonpolar dispersion agent with over 98% reaction yield. Solar cells fabricated with these nanocrystals demonstrate competitive efficiencies, confirming the scalable synthesis is directly compatible with high-performance device fabrication.
Nano-C (USA) – Henning Richter describes the engineering of fullerenes as electron transport materials for n-i-p, p-i-n, and tandem architectures — covering the production and refinement of unfunctionalized fullerenes, particularly C60, at industrial volumes for vapor-phase deposition, and the role of functionalized fullerene moieties forming self-assembled monolayers and stabilizing the perovskite crystal phase. Advanced derivatives incorporating phosphonic acid or amino/ammonium functionalities enable effective interface passivation, while ongoing hole transport material development targets triphenylamine or carbazole cores with phosphonic groups, including cross-linking approaches to enhance interface durability. Performance data from single-junction and tandem devices is shared, alongside solvent selection for large-scale manufacturing.
LinXole (Sweden) – Feng Wang introduces new Spiro-OMeTAD inks with several unique advantages for efficiency and stability. The resulting films show excellent moisture and thermal stability even after aging at 85% relative humidity and 85 °C, large-area printed films show high uniformity, and the films can be used directly without any post-oxidation process in air. They also suppress gold migration into the perovskite layer, further improving device stability.
Nanografi Nanotechnology (Turkey) – Duygu Cevher provides an integrated formulation strategy for high-performance silver paste in solar cell metallization, examining how composition influences printing behaviour, firing response, contact formation, and electrical performance. Silver powder characteristics — particle size distribution, morphology, packing and tap density, surface properties — govern dispersion, screen passage, packing, and sintering; glass frit, though present in small amounts, controls the reaction with passivation layers and mechanical adhesion during firing; and the organic binder system determines viscosity, drying, open time, and the thixotropy needed for fine line definition. Current trends point toward finer lines, reduced silver consumption, lower contact resistance, and wider firing windows.
Encapsulation, Glass & End-of-Life
HB Fuller (USA) – David McDougall examines the packaging demands unique to perovskite devices. Compared with conventional photovoltaic technologies, perovskites require lower-temperature packaging materials providing exceptional moisture and oxygen barriers, strong mechanical protection, and high optical transparency — a combination that presents new challenges for material suppliers. The talk reviews emerging polymer solutions and the technical challenges facing material developers as the technology transitions from laboratory-scale devices to field-ready modules.
Everlight Chemical (Taiwan) – Yun-Chang Chao notes that while research focuses primarily on absorber and interface optimization, systematic discussion of encapsulation remains limited despite its strong influence on device lifetime and scalable manufacturing. Drawing on industrial validation projects and common failure modes, the talk presents a structured engineering perspective connecting material selection and structural design with long-term performance. Everlight has developed encapsulation materials for emerging PV since the DSSC era, with systems validated by academic and industrial partners across continents and published in internationally recognized journals.
Tabernair (United Kingdom) – Martin Stephen presents certified perovskite BIPV glass — structural, transparent, and deployment-ready. Building-integrated photovoltaics demands that a module be a legitimate building material first and a solar device second, meeting structural and safety certification alongside performance. The detailed abstract will follow in the agenda.
ZSW (Germany) – Cordula Wessendorf argues that with perovskite and tandem modules already reaching the market, it is time to think about recycling — especially since roughly one gram of lead per square metre must be kept out of landfill, alongside critical materials like indium, caesium, and silver. ZSW has developed an industrial-scale recycling process at 140–160 °C allowing over 96% of perovskite material to be recovered and reused. Crucially, modules are thermo-mechanically separated in one piece, so indium-containing TCO glass is recovered selectively and undamaged and substrate glass avoids the downcycling caused by shredding. Mini-modules made with recycled substrates and recycled PbI₂ achieved over 90% of the efficiency of those built from fresh materials.
Transparent Electrodes & ITO-Free Architectures
PINA CREATION – Maryam Bari presents printable ITO nano inks for low-temperature fabrication of transparent conductive films. Conventional ITO deposition relies on high-temperature, vacuum-based processes that limit compatibility with flexible substrates and raise cost and energy consumption. This solution-processed ink offers controlled particle size, stable dispersion, and optimized rheology for scalable coating such as spin and slot-die, producing films with high optical transparency, good conductivity, and uniform morphology at processing temperatures below 150 °C.
Power Roll (United Kingdom) – Neil Spann explores a scalable, ITO-free device architecture designed around ultra-low material usage and compatibility with high-throughput roll-to-roll production. A micro-structured substrate architecture enables efficient charge collection with no ITO or TCO, eliminating reliance on scarce or geopolitically constrained inputs, and by decoupling electrical performance from thick transparent conductive layers it supports flexible, lightweight photovoltaic films for large-area deployment. Experimental results demonstrate leading bifacial performance, improved angular and shading response, and resistance to pinholes — with a closing discussion of how such architectures enable cost-competitive perovskite PV at scale.
Join Us in Berlin
Robust tin oxide synthesis, industrial-volume fullerenes, air-stable Spiro inks, ITO-free architectures, and a recycling route recovering 96% of the perovskite — the materials layer of this industry is maturing fast. Meet the suppliers and institutes making it happen at the co-located exhibition.
Your pass also includes the co-located Electronics RESHAPED covering the entire world of R2R and printed electronics
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