Graduate Student, Chemistry
Carrier Lifetimes in Hybrid Perovskite Solar Cells
The United States is seeing a major shift in the way we view, produce, and consume energy. Currently less than 10% of energy comes from renewable resources, and just recently the federal government has taken legislative action to increase this number to 20% by 2020. Solar energy offers an inexhaustible resource that could significantly contribute to reaching this goal. To make this possible, the cost per kilowatt-hour of solar will have to be competitive with other leading technologies. This will require solar modules that are cheap, but also solar materials that are extremely efficient at absorbing light and converting this energy into electricity. I am currently studying an organic/inorganic perovskite material that has potential to meet both of these requirements. I am specifically interested in what happens in the solar cell right after it absorbs light and how to control these processes to design the most efficient solar material.