“Go big or go home” could never be a truer statement, especially when it comes to energy. The world population is increasing, the energy use per person is growing more rapidly, and the total electricity use per person is growing even more quickly than that. To handle this demand, energy production must be increased, and it is critical for renewable sources to be used. Currently three quarters of a terawatt of power generated from photovoltaics (PVs) has been installed. At a somewhat optimistic average power-conversion efficiency of 18%, the distributed surface area of high purity optoelectronic grade semiconductor photovoltaic panels pointed at the sun is substantially larger than the area of the whole state of Rhode Island or nearly double the land mass of Luxembourg. While photovoltaic production continues to ramp to immense proportions, perovskite semiconductors are poised to greatly complement existing technology. On the other end of the size spectrum, the study of semiconductor nanocrystals or quantum dots (QDs) has led to advanced structures and deeper understanding within halide perovskite semiconductors. In this article, we show how the development of nanoscale metal halide perovskite semiconductors have gained prominence surpassing all other QD materials in terms of efficiency, and are becoming a platform for further improving technology to solve big energy challenges.

“变大还是回家”永远不是一个更真实的说法，尤其是在能源方面。世界人口在增加，人均能源使用量增长更快，而人均总用电量增长速度甚至更快。为了满足这一需求，必须提高能源产量，这对于使用可再生能源至关重要。目前，已经安装了光伏发电（PV）产生的四分之一兆瓦的电能。在乐观的平均功率转换效率为18％的情况下，指向太阳的高纯度光电级半导体光伏面板的分布表面积大大大于整个罗德岛州的面积，几乎是卢森堡土地面积的两倍。在光伏生产继续攀升至巨大比例的同时，钙钛矿半导体有望大大补充现有技术。在尺寸谱的另一端，对半导体纳米晶体或量子点（QD）的研究已导致卤化物钙钛矿半导体中的高级结构和更深刻的理解。在本文中，我们展示了纳米级金属卤化物钙钛矿半导体的开发在效率方面如何超越所有其他QD材料，并正在成为进一步改进技术以解决巨大能源挑战的平台。