First prize of the GENAM for the Doctoral thesis of Paz Sebastiá Luna
Our former PhD student Paz Sebastiá Luna got the first prize for the Best Doctoral Thesis from the Nanoscience and Molecular Materials Group of the Spanish Chemical and Physical Royal Societies (GENAM by its initials in Spanish).
The Awards ceremony will take place in the next fall.
The thesis, entitled: “Low toxicity metal halide semiconductors for optoelectronics and thermoelectrics”, was directed by Professor Henk Bolink and Dr. Francisco Palazón.
During her PhD, Dr. Sebastiá Luna developed several semiconductor thin films for renewable energy applications. In particular, she focused on low-toxicity alternatives to lead-based perovskites and chalcogenides for photovoltaics, light-emission, and thermoelectrics. Her work was rightly recognized by an important number of highly-cited publications and now also by this important national prize.
GENAM is a multidisciplinary group composed by international prestige researchers and many young researchers from different fields like chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, etc.
We have joined the #YoSi movement of the Fundación Lab Mediterráneo
This movement seeks to say “Yes” to the leadership of the Valencian Community, putting the people who drive progress at the center of everything.
Fundación LAB Mediterráneo has the mission of positioning the Valencian Community as a national and European benchmark in entrepreneurship, innovation, technology and research.
Its objectives are to promote the creation and attraction of technological startups; work to attract national and international technology companies; promote support for companies in non-technological sectors of the Community to accelerate their digital transformation; contribute to increasing private investment in innovation and R&D and help promote local research.
OPEN PhD POSITION
Topic: Perovskite and other semiconductor thin films for photovoltaics and thermoelectrics
The PhD student will develop different semiconductors including but not limited to metal halide perovskites for photovoltaics and thermoelectrics. Solvent-free mechanochemical synthesis and thermal vacuum deposition will be employed to produce high quality materials in bulk and thin film form. The optoelectronic and thermoelectric properties of these will be examined through advanced characterization techniques, including a rather unique setup for the determination of thermal conductivity in nanometric thin films. Eventually, solar cells and thermoelectric generators will be fabricated and characterized in depth. All the necessary equipment for material preparation, characterization, and device fabrication is present at the host.
Requirements: M.Sc. in Chemistry, Physics or Materials Science or equivalent graduation. Proof of English proficiency. Basic knowledge of Spanish is welcome, yet not required.
Start date (planned): 1 November 2022 – 28. Feb. 2023
Application deadline: 15 July 2022
Kassio Zanoni was awarded a prize for the Best Young Scientist Talk at the KAUST Research Conference Accelerating Solar Energy Research towards meeting Vision 2030 Goals
The KAUST Research Conference Accelerating Solar Energy Research towards meeting Vision 2030 Goals was held in May 9th and 10th 2022 at KAUST, Saudi Arabia.
This award recognized the excellent talk Kassio gave at the conference “Damage-free Pulsed Laser Deposition of ITO for Perovskite Solar Cells”.
You can find more information about the conference here: https://ksc.kaust.edu.sa/2022-conference
Perovskite, the hidden factor of a sustainable revolution
Spanish newspaper ABC reports on the importance of the Perovskites for the development of photovoltaic energy, with contributions from primarily Valencian scientist. As reported, a huge leap in efficiencies is expected in the near future (up to 33%, while only silicon devices have 26%) using tandem architecture comprised of Perovskite and Silicon devices.
The original article can be accessed in: https://www.abc.es/economia/abci-perovskita-factor-oculto-revolucion-sostenible-202109060129_noticia.html
Today’s silicon-based solar cells are limited in that they can only absorb energy from a single band of light. That’s why the EU-funded PERTPV project is using perovskite-based materials to build a new type of solar cell. This should lead to more powerful, efficient and sustainable solar panels that will benefit citizens as much as the planet.
Highly efficient perovskite LEDs
Metal halide perovskite nanocrystals (PNC)-based light-emitting diodes with the world’s highest external quantum efficiency (23.4%) and current efficiency (108 cd A-1) has been reported in a research made in an international collaboration with other groups from the Republic of Korea, USA, China and UK.
This is the highest device efficiency among perovskite LEDs reported so far and is comparable with even the highest current efficiencies of conventional III–V and II–VI inorganic quantum dot LEDs.
This achievement was obtained by the development of a comprehensive strategy that makes it possible to simultaneously decrease the non-radiative charge recombination by comprehensive defect suppression and bulk entropy stabilization, and increase the radiative recombination of charge carriers due to increased excitonic confinement.
A beautiful illustration of this research on perovskite light-emitting diodes made the cover of the February 2021 issue of Nature Photonics.
The original article can be accessed in: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-020-00732-4
Kim, Y. H. et al. Comprehensive defect suppression in perovskite nanocrystals for high-efficiency light-emitting diodes. Nat. Photonics 15, 148-155 (2021)
It was also highlighted in: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41578-021-00280-5
Highlighted in Nature Reviews Materials “Highly efficient perovskite LEDs” 6, 108 (2021)
Daniel Pérez achieved one of the Excellent Talk awards at the 2020 MRS Fall Meeting
Our PhD student Daniel Pérez del Rey won one of the Excellent Talk awards from Symposium CT02-EL08 at the 2020 Virtual MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit, this year exceptionally held online.
This award recognized the excellent presentation Daniel made at the conference with the contributed talk: “Interfacial Engineering in High Efficiency Vacuum Deposited Perovskite Solar Cells – From Metal Oxide Extraction Layers to Large Area Devices“
Hendrik J.Bolink receives an ERC Advanced Grant
Dr. Bolink, was granted in 2019 with 2.5 million euros from- the Advanced Grant of the European Research Council (ERC).
The project named ‘Hetero-structures for Efficient Luminescent Devices’ (HELD) plans to engineer stable, highly luminescent heterostructures based on defect-tolerant perovskites and integrate them into thin-film optoelectronic devices. The primary targeted devices are blue and white planar electroluminescent devices, high-efficiency solar cells and electrically pumped lasers. The project will use processing methods that are compatible with large-area industrial processes.
More information can be found HERE.
Breakthrough in vacuum-deposition Perovskites
In a recent work, Dr. Bolink and co-workers reported on an innovative multiple-source thermal vacuum deposition technology for growing mixed-cation/mixed-halide perovskite layers. Among all the possible composition combinations, a three-cation/two-anion perovskite (Cs0.5FA0.4MA0.1Pb(I0.83Br0.17)3) was shown to yield the most efficient and stable perovskite solar cell (PSC).
The original article can be accessed in: https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201703506
L. Gil-Escrig, C. Momblona, M.-G. La-Placa; P. P. Boix; M. Sessolo; H. J. Bolink. Vacuum Deposited Triple-Cation Mixed-Halide Perovskite Solar Cells Adv. Energy Mater., 8, 14, 1703506 (2018).
It was also highlighted in Advanced Science News: https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/vapor-deposition-technology-for-mixed-hybrid-perovskites/
