121: Let the Sun Shine in

We talk about perovskite minerals and compounds, their discovery, and general crystal structure. Then we learn about how researchers gradually learned about their interesting electrical and optical properties. We hear of Tsutomu Miyasaka’s paper about building a solar cell using these perovskite minerals, and the sudden interest in making commercial, practical solar cells from perovskites. We delve briefly into the electronic orbitals in perovskites, the engineering aspects of building photovoltaic cells with them, and how their efficiency in generating electrical current has soared since they were first invented.