Accelerating hybrid perovskite research through robotic micro-experimentation

Abstract

The vast chemical and processing universe of emerging halide perovskite materials can be overwhelming to traditional research practices. The sheer scale of the design problem and the emergent nature of many phenomena, including highly nonequilibrium thin film processing, complex solution-to-solid phase transformation can be overwhelming for traditional trial-and-error investigations. Solving such a complex problem would benefit from a robot-in-the-loop strategy that can accelerate many of the manual tasks as well as reduce cost and waste generation and support implementation of artificial intelligence. We present the RoboMapper, our recent effort to leverage robotic automation towards accelerating parameter space exploration and establishment of formulation-structure-property relationships with orders of magnitude enhancement in research efficiency. We will demonstrate formulation, printing and characterization of halide perovskites towards the aim of accelerating research workflows.