Relating structure to electrical transport in molecular electronic materials
Event details
| Date | 31.10.2016 |
| Hour | 13:15 › 14:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Jenny Nelson, Imperial College London |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Solution processable semiconductors based on molecular electronic materials have attracted intense interest for applications in solar energy conversion, lighting and thin-film electronics. In all application areas device function is dependent on the efficiency of charge transport, which occurs mainly by a process of hopping between separate molecules or molecular segments. Charge transport is strongly influenced by the conformation and structure of these molecular units and by disorder in their energy and the coupling between them. However, because of the natural variability of these soft materials the precise microstructure is difficult to determine experimentally, and to predict. In this talk, we will show how electrical behaviour can be related to microstructure in a number of model systems. We will show how the results of experimental measurements of charge transport on different length and time scales can be reconciled when appropriate models are used. We show how microscopic (molecule level) and macroscopic (device level) models can be combined to rationalise the impact of chemical or physical structure of a material on device response. We discuss how these methods may contribute to the design of high performance devices such as solar cells.
Bio: Jenny Nelson is a Professor of Physics at Imperial College London, where she has researched novel varieties of material for use in solar cells since 1989. Her current research is focussed on understanding the properties of molecular semiconductor materials and their application to organic solar cells. This work combines fundamental electrical, spectroscopic and structural studies of molecular electronic materials with numerical modelling and device studies, with the aim of optimising the performance of solar cells based on molecular and hybrid materials. Since 2010 she has been working together with the Grantham Institute for Climate Change to explore the mitigation potential of photovoltaic, and other renewable, technologies. She has published over 200 articles in peer reviewed journals, several book chapters and a book on the physics of solar cells. She was awarded the 2009 Institute of Physics Joule Prize and medal and the 2012 Royal Society Armourers and Brasiers Company Prize for her research.
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Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Fabien Sorin & Michele Ceriotti
Contact
- Fabien Sorin & Michele Ceriotti