Project Description
Do you want to be part of the coming solar revolution? This PhD is perfect for you!
Metal halide perovskites have emerged as a new class of semiconductor having important applications in next generation solar-cells. Here, an unprecedented advancement in the efficiency of perovskite solar cells has resulted in the demonstration of devices having efficiencies of 25.5%, making them strong competition with silicon-based devices. Here, metal halide perovskites have a number of unique properties that make them ideal semiconductors for solar-cell applications; most critically they are based on inexpensive materials that can be processed at low-temperatures using solution-based printing techniques, allowing them to be deposited on flexible plastic substrates using low-temperature processes. Perovskite semiconductors are also mechanically flexibility, opening up the possibility of creating efficient, flexible solar cells with applications in wearable devices and providing power for a growing large number of mobile (wireless) technologies that currently utilise conventional lithium-ion batteries.
In this project you will be part of a large team working at the Universities of Sheffield, Oxford, Cambridge, Surrey and the National Physical Lab, with the overall aim of the project to produce state of the art perovskite PV on flexible substrates (here we target devices with areas of > 50 cm2 and efficiencies of > 18%). If successful this will help further drive the utilization and uptake of solar power in a range of new applications.
Your specific task will be to help develop new, scalable and manufacturable techniques to deposit perovskite solar cell devices. In particular, you will use spray-coating to deposit the perovskite material and charge transporting layers on different flexible substrates. You will then explore the efficiency and performance of the devices you create, using a range of characterization tools (including electron and optical microscopy and x-ray scattering) to help inform your device optimization studies.
Funding Information
This project comes with a full stipend of £15609 p.a and is open to both UK nationals and International students.
Eligibility Requirements
This project will suit a recent graduate with a 2.1 degree (or better) in physics, chemistry or materials-science, electronic engineering etc, having good experimental skills and an interest in solar-energy and new technologies. You will be part of the vibrant Electronic and Photonic Molecular Materials Group https://epmm.group.shef.ac.uk which is based in the department of Physics and Astronomy at Sheffield.
Application Process
Please make all informal enquiries to Prof. David Lidzey ([email protected]).