Inicio 9 PhD projects 9 Innovative materials for highly efficient and stable perovskite solar cells

Innovative materials for highly efficient and stable perovskite solar cells

RESEARCH PROGRAMME

P1: Nanotechnology for energy harvesting

PhD PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Sun is the essential source of energy for the existence of life in our planet. Thus, it is among the best solutions to face the global energy crisis and environmental degradation. Photovoltaics offers a feasible and promising solution to overcome the energy problem, by harvesting and converting solar energy into electrical power.

The contribution of this project, lays in the creation of innovative materials which eventually allow the fabrication of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with competitive efficiencies and, most importantly, improved stability and/or flexibility. Therefore, the PhD candidate will receive valuable training in a crucial field for the future of mankind and will learn not only to prepare disruptive organic materials, but also to implement them efficiently in solar devices with different characteristics (see the figure as an example).

The envisaged materials involve both a structural and compositional engineering for a better control of 2D and/or 3D perovskites and the synthesis of Hole Transporting Materials (HTMs) and Electron Transporting Materials (ETMs) based on less-studied carbon-nanostructures (carbon nanotubes, graphene and molecular nanographenes) and small organic molecules. Improved ambient stability and flexibility are essential in order to address the further commercialization step of PSCs, thus contributing to solve the current energy problem by complementing the existing photovoltaic technologies.

The development of this Project requires productive research cooperation. The group already has a strong collaboration with international researcher groups such as Prof. M. Graetzel’s group at EPFL (Switzerland), Prof. M. Reddy’s group at Lille University (France), Prof.  T. Ameri’s group at Edinburgh University (UK) among others. Any of the research groups with which we collaborate would be a good choice for an international secondment and research-oriented training opportunities. Among national collaborations, the group closely works with Prof. E. Ortí’s group at Valencia University and other groups at IMDEA such as Dr. E. Cánovas’s group. Furthermore, the group actively collaborates with SAULE Technologies, this can be an extremely good opportunity for the candidate to have a first contact with a high-tech company. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the IP of our group, Prof. Nazario Martín, coordinates the Excellence Network of the Red MODE-Photovoltaics (Materiales Orgánicos Disruptivos para Energía Fotovoltaica, Ref.: RED2018-102815-T). This project finished this year and a new one has been submitted.

APPLICANT’S REQUIREMENTS

The candidate should have a great initiative and show interest to find an answer to a question or a solution to a problem. In this context, that means she or he should be interested in developing new disruptive materials and solar devices to contribute from research to solving the current energy problem.

It is recommended to have a science academic training in chemistry, physics or engineering, and good time management/communication skills. As PhD researchers will be expose to international research training English language skills are required.

RESEARCH GROUP DESCRIPTION

The Organic Molecular Materials group at the University Complutense of Madrid and IMDEA-Nanoscience Institute is led by Prof. Nazario Martín. The research activity is mainly focused on Carbon Nanostructures as materials for the preparation of photo- and electroactive Functional Organic Molecular Systems. In particular, the covalent and supramolecular chemistry of carbon nanoforms in the context of chirality and asymmetric catalysis (bottom-up nanographenes, graphene quantum dots, carbon nanodots, and pulsed laser synthesis of carbon nanoparticles), electron transfer processes, photovoltaic applications (organic and perovskite solar cells), supramolecular functional assemblies and nanoscience. Research in our group also involves the study of carbon nanostructures for bio-medical applications, and the study of organic molecules on metal surfaces, molecular nanowires for molecular electronics and “on-surface” synthesis.

The different scientific topics developed in our research group are at the forefront of science and could have a strong technological and socio-economic impact for our Society.

RESEARCH SUPERVISOR

Prof Nazario Martín León
nazario.martin@imdea.org / nazmar@quim.ucm.es

Research Group website: https://www.nazariomartingroup.com/index.html