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@3steps. Possibly Lepidico's interest in catalysts began with our inheritance of BASF when we merged with Desert Lion in May of 2019, BASF being a leading global catalyst manufacturer, with plans to build a purpose specific research facility in Germany (for catalysts).
We may find out more about a possible relationship with BASF by year end, but to clarify the timeline, scrolling back- our 30 June 2019 quarterly informed "Over 2,000 litres of brine containing potassium, rubidium and caesium sulphates were produced" from Pilot Plant Campaign 1 in early July. "Production of these streams has been prioritised to allow samples to be expedited for testing by third parties."
Less than 3 months later, on 21 October 2019, management released the announcement "High Specification Caesium-Rubidium Formate Produced." It is explained that "This is the first time an adequate quantity of such liquor has been available for product research and development purposes." Whilst the word 'catalyst' isn't used, 'compounds' is- 6 times in this announcement, specifying applications for caesium and rubidium other than as a drilling formate: "as in the manufacture of perovskite-containing solar cells." This is also the first announcement, I believe, which refers to the US' list of 35 critical minerals.
Our 2019 Annual Report the next day and our 30 September 2019 Quarterly Report one week later mention:
Further development activities are planned in early fiscal 2020 as larger caesium-rubidium samples became available from the first pilot plant campaign. The objective is to develop another by-product stream from the processing of lepidolite concentrates.
Work is ongoing to produce other caesium and rubidium compounds that have potential application in the oil and gas industry, as well as in the manufacture of perovskite-containing solar cells.Flash forward to 20 July 2021, on page 22 of Shaw and Partners' Initiation Report on Lepidico, we find:
An emerging use for both caesium and rubidium is in perovskite solar cells which appear to be at the early stage of commercialisation, with Polish company, Saule Technologies, leading the charge.
____________________________________Going back a few years, plenty of research comes up if you Google 'perovskite rubidium' on the use of caesium, rubidium and potassium in solar cell technology. The entire following article from 20 June 2019 is fascinating: "Scientists discover why caesium and rubidium enhance perovskite solar cells."
Halide perovskites are basically salts, with positively and negatively charged components that come together to form a neutral compound. And they have several characteristics that make them desirable for manufacturing high-efficiency solar cells. They can be dissolved into a liquid and then form high-quality crystals at low temperatures, which is attractive from a manufacturing standpoint. In addition, they are easy to repair and can tolerate defects in the material without seeing a big drop-off in their semiconductor properties.
"What we found is that some of the precursors, or ingredients, want to form several compounds other than the one we want, which can cluster key elements irregularly throughout the material," Amassian says. "That was something we didn't know before."
"We also found that introducing cesium and rubidium into the process at the same time effectively suppresses the formation of those other compounds, facilitating the formation of the desired, homogeneous halide perovskite compound that is used to make high performance solar cells."https://www.materialstoday.com/crystalline-materials/news/cesium-and-rubidium-perovskite-solar-cells/_____________________________________
If you scroll down slightly from this ResearchGate abstract, you will come to dozens of articles from Oct, Nov and Dec 2021 from around the world. That's without clicking the "Show more" option. Lots of interest, lots of research.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308926960_Incorporation_of_rubidium_cations_into_perovskite_solar_cells_improves_photovoltaic_performance_____________________________________
Perovskite solar cell technology may provide a use for Lepidico's ternary compounds. Furthermore, imo our management would not mention perovskites for 2 years, without Shaw and Partners' allusion to Saule Technologies having some significance. I expect they will be one of our Cs/Rb consumers. Interestingly, when researching perovskites, guess who regularly comes up?
https://ipsnews.net/business/2021/11/03/exclusive-research-report-on-perovskite-solar-cells-market-2021-major-players-basf-se-swift-solar-fujikara-solaronix-sa/
(20min delay)