Metal-halide perovskites have emerged as a versatile materials platform for next-generation electronic and optoelectronic technologies, enabling applications that extend far beyond photovoltaics. In this talk, I will present recent advances in understanding the switching behavior of perovskite memristors and demonstrate how they can be integrated directly into solar cells to address critical challenges in real-world operation.
The first part of the presentation focuses on the fundamental mechanisms governing resistive switching in perovskite memristors [1]. Through detailed device investigations, we show that switching is not mediated by distributed conductive nanofilaments, as commonly assumed, but instead occurs within highly localized regions that form during initial device operation. By introducing a light-assisted patterning approach to precisely define these regions, we eliminate the need for an energy-intensive electroforming step and reveal that switching takes place at the boundaries of these regions. This understanding enables perovskite memristors with low operating voltages, extremely low leakage currents, long data-retention times, and stable performance over millions of switching cycles.
Building on these insights, the second part of the talk demonstrates how memristive functionality can be leveraged to solve one of the key reliability challenges facing perovskite solar cells: instability under reverse-bias conditions caused by partial shading of series-connected soalr cells and modules. We introduce the Memsol concept, a solar cell with an integrated memristor that shares the perovskite absorber and electrodes while acting simultaneously as a self-regulating protection and bypass element [2]. Under reverse-bias conditions, the integrated memristor automatically switches into a low-resistance state, protecting the solar cell from degradation; under normal operating conditions, it returns to a high-resistance state, preserving full photovoltaic performance. Reverse-bias and shading experiments, including demonstrations on multi-cell strings, confirm robust and autonomous operation without the need for external bypass components.
Together, these results demonstrate how advances in the understanding and control of resistive switching in perovskites can enable new device concepts that combine electronic and photovoltaic functionality. The presented work connects fundamental studies of memristive behavior with practical applications in solar-cell technology and highlights the broader potential of perovskite materials for integrated electronic systems.