Interesting @3steps. Thank you. Looking this up, it was 100 years ago Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering the photoelectric effect- in 1921. As "necessity is the mother of invention," a century on, now seems to be the time for Einstein's work to enjoy its day in the sun. We all would have learnt this in high school, but it's worth mentioning here as it's pertinent to Lepidico's work:
@rayien Thank you, as I hadn't heard. It seems multiple records were broken this year. They're experimenting with double, triple and quadruple junction perovskite solar cells reaching up to 38.8% efficiency. Because multi-junction solar cells are expensive, researchers are exploring the use of semi-conductors, as they're more cost-effective and offer the additional benefit of maintaining "high PCE under varying weather extremes – making them utilizable worldwide." PCE stands for power conversion efficiency. Rubidium and caesium could be at play here, as we know their use as a catalyst lowers operating temperatures. Rubidium also extends the temperature range for EV batteries when incorporated in the CAM chemistry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perovskite_solar_cell
@3steps Your point about an increase in the supply of rubidium possibly affecting future pricing is something I've wondered about too. Yes to trusting management to navigate. Also, our products will be very specifically tailored to our customers' specifications, which could create a premium just by the fact that Lepidico will be able to supply said products. Furthermore, with the rise in demand of solar cells, EV batteries and emission reducing/efficiency increasing catalysts, these 3 uses we currently know of will be meeting a market hungry for such products. As regulations tighten, the coming years will possibly absorb LPD's growing supply, as our economy's paradigm shifts.
Regarding your house, have you seen that Saule Technologies' perovskites can be applied as a foil on any surface? Window blinds, curved surfaces- fascinating stuff. In the 2021 video below, Saule's founder gives 40 as the number of people they employ- from 15 different countries, but then a diagram just beneath this video on their website lists 70 Team Members, signalling significant growth within one year.
@XBB32 Thank you for sharing that you've been following Saule Technologies' progress for years and apologies it's taken me 3 weeks to get back to you. Any insight will be welcome. We can keep an eye on their website and may soon hear more from our management, given that they regularly mention perovskite solar cells. In Wikipedia's "Timeline of Solar Cells," their first entry dates from 1839, whilst the last features Saule Technologies, for the year 2021:
21 May – The first industrial commercial production line of perovskite solar panels, using an inkjet printing procedure, is launched.[56]
The article footnoted at [56] is a great read. "Demand already exceeds production capacity, which is estimated initially at an annual 40,000 square metres (430,550 square feet)." https://techxplore.com/news/2021-05-firm-cutting-edge-solar-energy.html _____________________________________
Lastly, something interesting came up over the weekend whilst putting together the previous post. Perovskite is a mineral which has been found at Karibib. Wikipedia explains:
Also, in Sanskrit, someone posted a video of a specimen of perovskite from Karibib. It translates into English, but I still couldn't figure out how to read their entire post, so here is the link. Curious....
We all would have learnt this in high school, but it's worth mentioning here as it's pertinent to Lepidico's work:
(20min delay)