The LENS Lab is currently being established at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology. We are building a dedicated research infrastructure designed from the ground up for the fabrication, characterisation, and stability testing of multijunction perovskite optoelectronic devices.

Our facility strategy is guided by a simple principle: every core process — from solution preparation to device measurement — should be controllable, reproducible, and scalable. This means investing in purpose-built environments for each processing step, rather than sharing general-purpose spaces across incompatible workflows.

This page describes the core facilities we are building, as well as the shared infrastructure available through the State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices (SKLLMD) at SCUT.

The heart of the LENS Lab is a suite of interconnected gloveboxes providing controlled inert-atmosphere environments for each stage of device fabrication. Each glovebox is dedicated to a specific process, preventing cross-contamination and enabling multiple researchers to work in parallel.

Glovebox suite (four units):

• Wide-bandgap perovskite glovebox — single-workstation unit dedicated to the preparation and deposition of wide-bandgap perovskite absorbers, equipped with air conditioning and cleanroom filtration for tight environmental control.

• Narrow-bandgap and solution preparation glovebox — dual-workstation unit combining a dedicated chemical weighing station with a narrow-bandgap perovskite processing workstation.

• Deposition glovebox — four-workstation unit housing an atomic layer deposition (ALD) system, organic evaporation, and sputtering capabilities within a single integrated enclosure.

• Measurement and encapsulation glovebox — three-workstation unit for metal contact deposition, current–voltage (IV) characterisation, device encapsulation, and stability testing. Equipped with high-purity fused silica observation windows.

• Air-process glovebox — ambient-atmosphere dual-workstation unit for processing of air-stable layers (e.g. NiOₓ thin films) and materials that do not require strict inert conditions.

Thin-film deposition systems:

• Atomic layer deposition (ALD) — TALD-200 system for conformal metal oxide thin films (e.g. SnO₂, TiO₂, Al₂O₃) used as electron transport and passivation layers in perovskite devices.

• Organic thermal evaporator — GT450-S6 system with multiple source pockets for organic semiconductor and interlayer deposition in perovskite multijunction stacks.

• Metal thermal evaporator — GT450-S6 system dedicated to metal electrode deposition (Au, Ag, Al, Cu).

• Magnetron sputtering system — GT500-Y3 system for deposition of transparent conductive oxides (ITO, IZO) and other inorganic thin films essential for multijunction interconnects and contacts.

High-quality perovskite thin films begin with precise solution preparation and controlled deposition. Our solution processing infrastructure supports systematic exploration of compositions, additives, and deposition parameters.

• Spin coaters (×3) — LEBO EZ6-S systems for perovskite and transport layer deposition, enabling multiple researchers to process substrates simultaneously without scheduling bottlenecks.

• Hotplates (×4) — programmable annealing stages for controlled thermal treatment of perovskite films.

• Analytical balances (×2) — 0.1 mg precision balances for accurate precursor preparation.

• Plasma cleaner — UV–ozone and plasma cleaning system for substrate surface activation prior to deposition.

• Ultrasonic cleaner — for substrate cleaning and laboratory glassware.

• Vortex mixers and magnetic stirrers — IKA and laboratory-grade mixing systems for solution preparation and ink development.

Reliable device characterisation is essential for understanding performance and guiding materials development. Our in-house characterisation systems are designed to support both rapid screening and detailed mechanistic analysis.

• Solar simulator and IV testing system — Enlitech SS-X50 system with AM1.5G illumination, supporting perovskite single-junction, perovskite–silicon tandem, and all-perovskite tandem device geometries. Includes automated substrate switching for high-throughput measurement.

• Stability testing system — multi-channel maximum power point tracking (MPPT) system for continuous operational stability measurement under controlled illumination and temperature conditions. Designed for systematic lifetime studies under realistic stress conditions.

The LENS Lab operates within the State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices (SKLLMD) at South China University of Technology — one of China’s leading research institutions in luminescent materials, optoelectronics, and related device technologies.

Access to SKLLMD’s shared infrastructure substantially extends the characterisation and processing capabilities available to LENS Lab researchers, covering structural, optical, surface, and electronic characterisation at a level that would be difficult to replicate in any single group’s dedicated space.

Shared facilities of direct relevance to LENS Lab research include:

Structural and morphological characterisation: X-ray diffraction (XRD); scanning electron microscopy (SEM); transmission electron microscopy (TEM); atomic force microscopy (AFM); focused ion beam (FIB) for cross-sectional device analysis.

Optical and photophysical characterisation: UV–Vis–NIR spectrophotometry with integrating sphere; steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL / TRPL); spectroscopic ellipsometry for optical constant determination of thin films.

Surface and chemical characterisation: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) for energy level alignment and surface chemistry; Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR); nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR, liquid and solid state).

Electronic characterisation: Hall-effect measurement for carrier concentration and mobility; impedance spectroscopy for device and interface analysis.

The combination of LENS Lab core facilities and SKLLMD shared infrastructure gives researchers end-to-end access — from materials synthesis and thin-film deposition through to device fabrication, photophysical characterisation, and stability testing — within a single institutional environment.

As the group develops, we plan to expand our fabrication and characterisation capabilities in line with our research directions. Priorities include:

• Automated thin-film deposition and characterisation platforms integrating robotic substrate handling, in-situ optical monitoring, and data-driven process optimisation — enabling systematic exploration of large compositional and processing spaces.

• External quantum efficiency (EQE) system for spectrally resolved photocurrent characterisation of single-junction and multijunction devices, including sub-cell EQE measurements under bias light.

• In-situ and operando characterisation capabilities for real-time monitoring of film formation, degradation, and device behaviour under operating conditions.

• Scalable deposition tools including blade coating and slot-die coating for thin-film processing beyond laboratory-scale substrates.

Prospective students and postdocs interested in helping build and use this infrastructure are warmly encouraged to get in touch.