Profile

I am the Principal Investigator of EFESO, standing for "Exploiting Flexible pErovskites Solar technOlogies", a Global PostDoctoral Fellowship from Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, with the aim of exploiting perovskite solar technologies on flexible substrates, allowing to reduce costs and be adaptable to many surfaces. I am currently pursuing this project as a visiting Post Doctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA), where I'm spending 21 months as part of the Outgoing Phase of the project.

I believe I have good communication skills obtained through all the different work and study experiences of my life.

I acquired good organizational skills during my University experience in Rome, Barcelona and in Dresden; the majority of the projects that have and had to be carried out in the Master in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Barcelona and in the Master in Organic and Molecular Electronics in Dresden were group projects of 3 or more people; a very good organization is fundamental to be able to carry out the work by the due date and continue studying.

During my PhD, I was part of the Innovative Training Network MAESTRO "MAking pErovskiteS TRuly explOitable", from Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, with the aim of fabricating perovskite solar technologies on larger areas; in this period, I acquired and experienced hard and soft skills on developing perovskite solar cells and modules, as well as interacting and collaborating with 17 partner university and companies around Europe. 7 different training events have been organized on different topics, from Intellectual Property, to hands-on session on how to fabricate solar cells. During this time, I also had the opportunity to work for Saule Technology, one of the first companies in Europe to commercialize perovskite technologies.

After my PhD, I got a Post Doctoral fellowship at University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' with the topic of Fabrication and characterization of large area perovskite solar modules for Silicon/Perovskite tandem configuration, in collaboration with ENEA. In this time, I was able to collaborate with Italian National agencies, experiencing also research topic on Silicon technologies.

I am convinced that the photovoltaics of tomorrow will be made of Hybrid and Organic materials, and I want to be part of this challenge!

Research Activity

I am the Principal Investigator of the Global Fellowship EFESO Grant agreement ID: 101068387 https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101068387
"EFESO, acronym of ""Exploiting Flexible pErovskites Solar technOlogies"" aims to bring perovskite technology on flexible substrates towards commercialization.

This project aims at upscaling stable Flexible Perovskite Solar Modules (FPSMs) by optimizing their fabrication process on flexible substrates, reducing inactive areas on modules, and by working on lead (Pb) trapping intrinsically, using doping and interface engineering, and extrinsically by encapsulation strategies.

The proposed project is divided into 3 main parts:
1. Materials: assessment of the flexible substrates, additives, and interface layers to get the best and stable layer to be used for device fabrication;

2. Device: fabrication and characterization of devices, focusing on lead trapping strategies by encapsulation and interface engineering;

3. Upscaling: optimization of the design and laser processes of P1-P2-P3 for indoor and outdoor applications (standard procedures to create a series connection of cells, to reduce losses encountered for large-area devices).

The principal objective of this action will be the fabrication of Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells with performances of 23% and 35% on small area devices at 1 Sun and 1000lx intensity respectively, FPSMs with power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21% and 18% on an area greater than 10cm2 and 200cm2 respectively.

All devices fabricated will pass the ISOS D-L-T-1 tests and they will show a reduction of lead leakage by 4-5 orders of magnitude A final product demonstrator will be fabricated showing the applicability of these devices into the market.

The action will bring new materials, additives, sealants, polymers, solvent concentrations used to limit lead leakage, and build a stable and highly efficient device on a flexible substrate, from cell to module size. For these reasons, this action will grab the attention of the scientific community that will recognize this work as a potential path for prompt commercialization."

Publications

The updated publications of Luigi Angelo Castriotta are all available on Google Scholar at the following link:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JWtGcZ4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Below is the list:

Fabrication and morphological characterization of high-efficiency blade-coated perovskite solar modules
F Matteocci, L Vesce, FU Kosasih, LA Castriotta, S Cacovich, AL Palma, ...
ACS applied materials & interfaces 11 (28), 25195-25204 15 2019

Doping strategy for efficient and stable triple cation hybrid perovskite solar cells and module based on poly (3‐hexylthiophene) hole transport layer
N Yaghoobi Nia, E Lamanna, M Zendehdel, AL Palma, F Zurlo, LA Castriotta,...
Small 15 (49), 1904399 14 2019

Improved stability of inverted and flexible perovskite solar cells with carbon electrode
V Babu, R Fuentes Pineda, T Ahmad, AO Alvarez, LA Castriotta, ...
ACS Applied Energy Materials 3 (6), 5126-5134 5 2020

An Inter‐Laboratory Study on the Stability of All‐Printable HTM‐Free Perovskite Solar Cells
F De Rossi, J Barbé, DM Tanenbaum, L Cinà, LA Castriotta, V Stoichkov, ...
Energy Technology, n/a (n/a), 2000134. 4* 2020

Large area perovskite solar modules with improved efficiency and stability
S Pescetelli, A Agresti, S Razza, LA Castriotta, A Di Carlo
ISAECT 2019, Rome, November 27-29th 1 2019

Metal-semiconductor transition in thin film MAPbI3 perovskite
V Campanari, M Lucci, LA Castriotta, B Paci, A Generosi, M Guaragno, ...
Applied Physics Letters 117 (26), 261901 2020

Beyond 17% Stable Perovskite Solar Module via Polaron Arrangement of Tuned Polymeric Hole Transport Layer
NY Nia, M Zendehdel, M Abdi-Jalebi, LA Castriotta, FU Kosasih, ...
Nano Energy, 105685 2020

Upscaling Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells: Optimization of Laser Scribing for Highly Efficient Mini-Modules
F Di Giacomo, LA Castriotta, FU Kosasih, D Di Girolamo, C Ducati, ...
Micromachines 11 (12), 1127 2020

New Fullerene Derivative as an n‐Type Material for Highly Efficient, Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells of ap‐i‐n Configuration
T Ahmad, B Wilk, E Radicchi, R Fuentes Pineda, P Spinelli, J Herterich, LA Castriotta, ...
Advanced Functional Materials 30 (45), 2004357 2020

Semi-transparent triple cation Perovskite solar module exceeding 8% efficiency for BIPV applications
L Vesce, M Stefanelli, F Matteocci, LA Castriotta, E Lamanna, J Herterich,  ...
2020 AEIT International Annual Conference (AEIT), 1-5 2020

Boosting Efficiency and Thermal stability of Large Area Perovskite Solar Modules Beyond 16.5%: The case of Polymeric and Small Molecule Hole Transport Layer
NY Nia, M Zendehdel, LA Castriotta, Z Zheng, A Di Carlo
NIPHO, Seville, February 23-25th 2020

Design, synthesis and application of new phenothiazine based Hole Transporting Materials (HTMs) for Perovskite Solar Cells (PSCs)
R Infantino, C Coppola, A Sinicropi, A Dessì, G Reginato, L Zani, A Mordini, LA Castriotta, ...
EnerChem20, Padova, February 12-14th 2020

Graphene and Perovskite: how GO alkaline doped 2D materials can boost the efficiency and stability of Perovskite Solar Cells using an upscaling route
LA Castriotta, A Agresti, S Pescetelli, M Stylianakis, E Kymakis, A Di Carlo
Graphene2019, Rome, June 25-29th 2019

Methyl Ammonium Free Perovskite Solar Cells: an out of Glove Box scalable route towards stability and efficiency
LA Castriotta, L Vesce, F Matteocci, M Stefanelli, D Di Girolamo, ...
HOPV 2019, Rome, May 12-15th 2019

Perovskite Solar Modules: Correlation Between Efficiency and Scalability
F Matteocci, LA Castriotta, AL Palma
Photoenergy and Thin Film Materials, 121-155 2019

Perovskite solar modules: a path to record-breaking devices
AL Palma, F Matteocci, L Vesce, LA Castriotta, NY Nia, E Calabrò, ...
EUPVSEC 2018, Brussels, September 24-28th 2018

Blade Coated Large Area Perovskite Solar Modules Exceeding 14.5% efficiency
LA Castriotta, L Vesce, F Matteocci, AL Palma, A Di Carlo
PSCO 2018, Lausanne, September 30th - October 2nd 2018

Blade and slot-die coated PEDOT:PSS for thermoelectric application
L La Notte, LA Castriotta, L Vesce, SA Castro-Hermosa, S Mardi, ...
Nano Innovation 2018, Rome, September 11-14th 2018

The effect of dryng for Perovskite Solar Cells to foster the upscaling and the lab to fab process
LA Castriotta, F Matteocci, L Vesce, L Cinà, A Di Carlo
Isophos-Maphebio 2017, September 3rd-7th 2017

Advanced Design and Electro-optical Characterization of Mesoscopic Solar Cells
LA Castriotta, L Cinà, S Mannsfeld
DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.24418.58563 2017