IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO OVERSTATE DEFLATIONARY PRESSURES:

Perovskites, a family of materials with unique electric properties, show promise for use in a variety fields, including next-generation solar cells. A Penn State-led team of scientists created a new process to fabricate large perovskite devices that is more cost- and time-effective than previously possible and that they said may accelerate future materials discovery.

"This method we developed allows us to easily create very large bulk samples within several minutes, rather than days or weeks using traditional methods," said Luyao Zheng, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Materials Science at Penn State and lead author on the study. "And our materials are high quality - their properties can compete with single-crystal perovskites."

Over its lifetime, 14D has explored a few options for its technology, including long duration energy storage - electricity to electricity - and a South Australia government-sponsored attempt at storing biogas as thermal energy, that was not a success.

In 2023, the company has retrained its focus on using the "unique thermophysical properties" of its technology to supply industrial heat of the sort that is currently supplied using carbon-intensive processes fuelled by gas and coal.

Having now successfully demonstrated in its lab-based furnaces that it can reach the sort of temperature levels, between 800°C - 1200°C, required for heavy industrial processes, the next step is to generate that sort of heat continuously over extended periods of time.

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