ABSTRACT:
All-oxide solar cells (AOSCs) based on earth-abundant metals are emerging among last-generation photovoltaic devices due to different key aspects that make them extremely interesting for the energy market: these intriguing features span from the low cost of raw materials (due to their high abundancy in nature), to their low-toxicity, chemical stability and ease of processing. Indeed, oxides can be deposited through spray pyrolysis, chemical bath and electrodeposition. However, although these approaches can provide film qualities comparable to vacuum-based methods commonly used for the production of other photovoltaic modules existing in the market, there are several issues to be faced before AOSCs can become real commercial products. First of all, the active area of the device is nowadays limited to the lab-scale (order of mm2) and the production is very time consuming (tens of hours for realizing a nanometric crystalline thin film using an atomic layer deposition system, the benchmark technique for this technology). The AMON RA project is designed to overcome these limitations by applying a quick and vacuum-based method like magnetron sputtering for realizing large-area (in the order of 10 cm2) AOSCs using the most up-to-date materials and, at the same time, investigating the inherent electronic properties of the oxides by performing specific endurance tests, for final validation and prototyping. AMON RA will involve three departments of the Univ. of Padova, thus exploiting the different expertise. The Dept. Chem. Sciences will develop materials for lab-scale AOSCs, the Dept. Inform. Eng. will focus on the AOSCs characterization, the Dept. Phys. and Astron. will focus on the structural characterization, whereas the Dept. of Economics and Management will primarily analyze the market opportunity of the new product based on the analysis of its value proposition with respect to existing products within the market and a perform a preliminary analysis of the sustainability of the devices production process as well as its Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The reliability of the whole project is ensured by strict collaborations with national and international partners, leader in the field of vacuum-technology, thin metal oxide films and AOSCs fabrication and testing. 

PUBBLICAZIONI:
Networking activity.
1. Prof. Silvia Gross and Dr. Francesco Lamberti are involved in an international scientific consortium focused on the submission of a EU-project in February 2020 (MSCA-RISE 101007655, 48 months, “MOx-TECH – Metal Oxides for sustainable energy TECHnologies”), with different institution worldwide (Germany, Italy, Sweden, France, Japan, Canada and Australia) obtaining 67.2% (threshold for granting 70%). Despite this good result, the project was not funded.

Dissemination activity
In the following papers, Centro Levi Cases is present as secondary affiliation:
2. 1 research paper accepted in Communication Materials (https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-020-00104-z), that has been just considered trend paper in the community (https://devicematerialscommunity.nature.com/posts/turning-bad-into-good) and the international online website “PV Magazine” has dedicated a featured article to the results of the work (https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/01/11/water-splitting-tech-to-reduce-mo...). Briefly, exploiting the CuSCN nanoplatelets produced in our laboratory we are able to promote water splitting in a perovskite solar cell working in extreme conditions (relative humidity > 80%) thus ameliorating the shelf life of the device. This is the first example in the literature in which water oxidation-based mechanism is attributed to be beneficial for improving the efficiency of solar devices.
Kim M., Alfano, A., Perotto G., Serri M., Dengo, N., Mezzetti A., Gross, S., Prato M., Salerno M., Rizzo A., Sorrentino R., Cescon E., Meneghesso G., Di Fonzo F., Petrozza A., Gatti T. and Lamberti F. Moisture resistance in perovskite solar cells attributed to a water-splitting layer
Communications Materials, 2 (6), 2021.
3. 1 review paper published in Progress in Material Science (IF = 32) (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmatsci.2020.100639) focusing on the possibility of integrating different materials within halide perovskites, realizing nanocomposites.
Righetto M., Meggiolaro D., Rizzo A., Sorrentino R., He Z., Meneghesso G., Sum T. C., Gatti T. and Lamberti F. Coupling halide perovskites with different materials: From doping to nanocomposites, beyond photovoltaics, Progress in Material Science, 110, 2020.
4. 1 research paper submitted to a special issue in Applied Sciences (IF. 2.5) entitled “Metal Oxides in Energy Technologies”, managed by Dr. Francesco Lamberti, focusing on the possibility of fine tuning the work function of Co3O4 and MoO3 nanostructures upon vanadium doping. The work is conducted in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova. The list of the authors comprises Pietro Dalle Feste, Matteo Crisci, Federico Barbon, Marco Salerno, Francesca Tajoli, Marco Salerno, Filippo Drago, Mirko Prato, Silvia Gross, Teresa Gatti and Francesco Lamberti. A not peer-reviewed version is already on the Internet at: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202101.0348/v1.
5. 1 invited review paper on Advanced Energy Materials (IF = 25) entitled “Opportunities from doped semiconducting metal oxides in last generation light-conversion devices” co-authored by Francesco Lamberti, Teresa Gatti, Alberto Vomiero, Francesco Enichi, Raffaello Mazzaro, Ilka Kriegel, Eleonora Di Maria and Silvia Gross.
6. “Levi Cases” is also acknowledged in another paper published by Francesco Lamberti in 2020 in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letter (IF = 7), https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c02317
Schmitz F., Guo K., Horn J., Sorrentino R., Conforto G., Lamberti F., Brescia R., Drago F., Prato M., He Z., Giovanella U., Cacialli F., Schlettwein D., Meggiolaro D. and Gatti T. Lanthanide-induced photoluminescence in lead-free Cs2AgBiBr6 bulk perovskite: insights from optical and theoretical investigations, Journal Physical Chemistry Letters, 2020, 11 (20).
7. Dalle Feste, P.; Crisci, M.; Barbon, F.; Tajoli, F; Salerno, M.; Drago, F.; Prato, M.; Gross, S.; Gatti, T.; Lamberti, F. Work Function Tuning in Hydrothermally Synthesized Vanadium-Doped Moo3and Co3O4 Mesostructures for Energy Conversion Devices. Applied Sciences 2021

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