KBSU has completed the second phase of perovskite research with scientists from South Africa and JINR

Joint perovskite research was conducted at the International Center for Detector Technologies and Functional Nanomaterials at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh. M. Berbekov, along with scientists from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) and the South African research institute iThemba Labs. Dr. Ntombizonke Keswa, who came to Kabardino-Balkaria from Cape Town, summarized the results of the two-week work.

Dr. Keswa’s second visit focused on practical research: she was interested in perovskite synthesis methods. KBSU scientists mastered four methods for producing crystals and introduced their South African colleague to the technologies for growing these materials. Perovskites are more efficient than their silicon counterparts, with efficiency in models reaching up to 29%.

«We’ve published two papers in reputable scientific journals, and another one was recently accepted for publication—this demonstrates the progress we’ve made in our research over the past year. We plan to continue our collaboration to create perovskite-based devices suitable for practical application,» commented Dr. Keswa.

She added that the collaboration between KBSU, JINR, and iThemba LABs needs to be further developed by attracting a new generation of researchers. The parties hope to organize educational exchange programs: Russian students will be able to work in the South African laboratory, while students and postdocs from Cape Town will be sent to Kabardino-Balkaria and Dubna to continue the project. The speaker cited the exchange of experience and leveraging the capabilities of each research site as the main goal of such collaboration.

«As part of this collaboration, we plan to create devices that can be used both in homes and in large data centers. I believe that solar panels using perovskites are the ones that can help solve global energy challenges,» the researcher emphasized.

Last year, Dr. Ntombizonke Keswa presented a paper at KBSU on South Africa’s green energy developments. Scientists from iThemba LABs are producing silicon for solar panels from renewable raw materials, which reduces their carbon footprint. The technology is based on cane bagasse as the main analogue of quartz, which is used in silicon production.

The academic partnership between KBSU, JINR, and iThemba LABs began in 2025. The scientists are conducting applied research in the ARIADNA collaboration on the platform of the international megascience project to build the NICA heavy ion collider.