TITLE: “Rational Material Design, Interface, and Device Engineering for
High-Performance and Stable Polymer Solar Cells
AFFILIATION: University of Washington, Seattle
Abstract: Advances in controlled synthesis, processing, and tuning of the properties of organic conjugated polymers have enabled significantly enhanced performance of organic electronic devices. Our laboratory employs a molecular engineering approach to develop processible and high charge carrier mobility polymers for enhancing power conversion efficiency of solar cells. We have also developed several innovative strategies to modify the interface of bulk-heterojunction devices and create new device architectures to fully explore their potential for solar window applications. The performance of polymer solar cells is strongly dependent on their efficiency in harvesting light, exciton dissociation,charge transport, and charge collection at the metal/organic/metal oxide interfaces. In this talk, the integrated approach of combining material design, interface, and device Engineering to significantly improve the performance of polymer photovoltaic cells will be discussed. Specific emphasis will be placed on the low band-gap polymers development with low reorganization energy and proper energy levels, optimized morphology of bulk-heterojunction layer, and minimized interfacial energy barriers with functional surfactants and graphene oxide. At the end, several new device architectures and processing strategies will be discussed to explore the full promise of polymer solar cells.
Biography: Alex Jen is currently the Boeing-Johnson Chair Professor and Chair of the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is also serving as the Founding Director for the Institute of Advanced Materials for Energy at UW. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984 under the tutelage of Prof.Michael Cava. Dr. Jen’s research interest is focused on utilizing molecular, polymeric and Biomacromolecular self-assembly to create ordered arrangement of organic and inorganic functional materials for photonics, opto-electronics, nanomedicine, and nanotechnology. He has co-authored more than 500 publications, given over 350 invited presentations, and has >16,000 citations and a H-index of 66. He is also a co-inventor for more than 50 patents and invention disclosures. For his pioneering contributions in organic photonics and electronics, he was elected as Fellow by several professional societies including MRS, ACS, PMSE, OSA, SPIE, and AAAS. Because of his contributions in science & engineering, he has been appointed as the Changjiang Endowed Chair by the Chinese Ministry of Education, as the World Class University Professor by the Korean National Research Foundation, and recently elected as an Academician by the Washington State Academy of Sciences.