Department of Materials Science & Engineering Seminar Series: Susanna Thon

Description

Please join the Department of Materials Science & Engineering for Susanna Thon's talk on "Engineering Quantum Materials for Next-Generation Solar Cells."

Abstract:

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are an attractive third-generation material for photovoltaics due to their solution-processability, lightweight and flexible nature, and bandgap tunability, allowing them to be used as infrared materials for multi-junction solar cells. I will discuss several methods for building new lead sulfide-based CQD materials and thin films for improving efficiencies and expanding applications in both single-junction and multi-junction solar cells. First, we use sulfur doping and 2D transition metal dichalcogenides to improve solar cell efficiency via enhancement of the performance-limiting hole transport layers. Next, we demonstrate a multi-modal micrometer-resolution 2D characterization method with millimeter-scale field of view for assessing CQD solar cell film quality and uniformity. We use this high-resolution morphology mapping to quantify the distribution and strength of the local optoelectronic property variations in CQD solar cells due to film defects, physical damage, and contaminants across nearly the entire test device area, and the extent to which these variations account for overall performance losses. Finally, we use the massive data sets produced by this method to train machine learning models that take as input simple illuminated current-voltage measurements and output complex underlying materials parameters, greatly simplifying the characterization process for optoelectronic devices.

Please email dmse@jhu.edu for Zoom link to attend online.