Organic electronics is a field of materials science concerning the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of organic molecules or polymers that show desirable electronic properties such as conductivity. Unlike conventional inorganic conductors and semiconductors, organic electronic materials are constructed from organic (carbon-based) molecules or polymers using synthetic strategies developed in the context of organic chemistry and polymer chemistry.
Intersystem crossing (ISC) is an isoenergetic radiationless process involving a transition between the two electronic states with different states spin multiplicity.
Copper phthalocyanine (CuPc), also called phthalocyanine blue, phthalo blue and many other names, is a bright, crystalline, synthetic blue pigment from the group of phthalocyanine dyes. Its brilliant blue is frequently used in paints and dyes. It is highly valued for its superior properties such as light fastness, tinting strength, covering power and resistance to the effects of alkalis and acids. It has the appearance of a blue powder, insoluble in most solvents including water.
Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) is a quantum mechanical magnetoresistance effect observed in multilayers composed of alternating ferromagnetic and non-magnetic conductive layers. The 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg for the discovery of GMR.
A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer (monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials as thin films is a fundamental step in many applications. A familiar example is the household mirror, which typically has a thin metal coating on the back of a sheet of glass to form a reflective interface. The process of silvering was once commonly used to produce mirrors, while more recently the metal layer is deposited using techniques such as sputtering. Advances in thin film deposition techniques during the 20th century have enabled a wide range of technological breakthroughs in areas such as magnetic recording media, electronic semiconductor devices, Integrated passive devices, LEDs, optical coatings, hard coatings on cutting tools, and for both energy generation and storage. It is also being applied to pharmaceuticals, via thin-film drug delivery. A stack of thin films is called a multilayer.
A dye-sensitized solar cell is a low-cost solar cell belonging to the group of thin film solar cells. It is based on a semiconductor formed between a photo-sensitized anode and an electrolyte, a photoelectrochemical system. The modern version of a dye solar cell, also known as the Grätzel cell, was originally co-invented in 1988 by Brian O'Regan and Michael Grätzel at UC Berkeley and this work was later developed by the aforementioned scientists at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) until the publication of the first high efficiency DSSC in 1991. Michael Grätzel has been awarded the 2010 Millennium Technology Prize for this invention.
Hybrid solar cells combine advantages of both organic and inorganic semiconductors. Hybrid photovoltaics have organic materials that consist of conjugated polymers that absorb light as the donor and transport holes. Inorganic materials in hybrid cells are used as the acceptor and electron transporter in the structure. The hybrid photovoltaic devices have a potential for not only low-cost by roll-to-roll processing but also for scalable solar power conversion.
The London Centre for Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary research centre in physical and biomedical nanotechnology in London, United Kingdom. It brings together three institutions that are world leaders in nanotechnology, University College London, Imperial College London and King's College London. It was conceived from the outset with a management structure allowing for a clear focus on exploitation and commercialisation. Although based at UCL's campus in Bloomsbury, the LCN includes research in departments of Imperial's South Kensington campus and in King's Strand campus.
A quantum dot solar cell (QDSC) is a solar cell design that uses quantum dots as the absorbing photovoltaic material. It attempts to replace bulk materials such as silicon, copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) or cadmium telluride (CdTe). Quantum dots have bandgaps that are tunable across a wide range of energy levels by changing their size. In bulk materials, the bandgap is fixed by the choice of material(s). This property makes quantum dots attractive for multi-junction solar cells, where a variety of materials are used to improve efficiency by harvesting multiple portions of the solar spectrum.
A nanomagnet is a submicrometric system that presents spontaneous magnetic order (magnetization) at zero applied magnetic field (remanence).
A plasmonic-enhanced solar cell, commonly referred to simply as plasmonic solar cell, is a type of solar cell that converts light into electricity with the assistance of plasmons, but where the photovoltaic effect occurs in another material.
The State Research Center for Optics and Material Sciences (OPTIMAS) connects two areas of research for which the University of Kaiserslautern has a national and international reputation, founded upon relevant contributions to the development of laser physics, photonics and plasmonics. Researchers in Kaiserslautern have also been prominent in the development of magnetic, electronic and molecular materials, as well as thin films, nanostructures and ultracold quantum gases. In order to continue building on this research foundation, OPTIMAS has been established at TU Kaiserslautern within the framework of the research initiative of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Singlet fission is a spin-allowed process, unique to molecular photophysics, whereby one singlet excited state is converted into two triplet states. The phenomenon has been observed in molecular crystals, aggregates, disordered thin films, and covalently-linked dimers, where the chromophores are oriented such that the electronic coupling between singlet and the double triplet states is large. Being spin allowed, the process can occur very rapidly and out-compete radiative decay thereby producing two triplets with very high efficiency. The process is distinct from intersystem crossing, in that singlet fission does not involve a spin flip, but is mediated by two triplets coupled into an overall singlet. It has been proposed that singlet fission in organic photovoltaic devices could improve the photoconversion efficiencies.
Jenny Nelson is Professor of Physics in the Blackett Laboratory and Head of the Climate change mitigation team at the Grantham Institute - Climate Change and Environment at Imperial College London.
Professor Lan Wang is a Chinese/Australian material scientist known for expertise in materials synthesis and advanced materials characterisation.
Amanda Karen Petford-Long is a Professor of Materials Science and Distinguished Fellow at the Argonne National Laboratory. She is also a Professor of Materials Science at Northwestern University.
The Department of Materials is responsible for the teaching and research in materials science and engineering at Imperial College London, occupying the Royal School of Mines and Bessemer buildings on the South Kensington campus. It can trace its origins back to the metallurgy department of the Government School of Mines and Science applied to the Arts, founded in 1851.
Natalie Stingelin, Fellow of the Materials Research Society and Royal Society of Chemistry, is a materials scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Bordeaux and Imperial College. She led the European Commission Marie Curie INFORM network and is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Materials Chemistry C and Materials Advances.
Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures are structures with at least one dimension on the nanometre scale, composed predominantly of zinc oxide. They may be combined with other composite substances to change the chemistry, structure or function of the nanostructures in order to be used in various technologies. Many different nanostructures can be synthesised from ZnO using relatively inexpensive and simple procedures. ZnO is a semiconductor material with a wide band gap energy of 3.3eV and has the potential to be widely used on the nanoscale. ZnO nanostructures have found uses in environmental, technological and biomedical purposes including ultrafast optical functions, dye-sensitised solar cells, lithium-ion batteries, biosensors, nanolasers and supercapacitors. Research is ongoing to synthesise more productive and successful nanostructures from ZnO and other composites. ZnO nanostructures is a rapidly growing research field, with over 5000 papers published during 2014-2019.
Supriyo Bandyopadhyay is an Indian-born American electrical engineer, academic and researcher. He is Commonwealth Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he directs the Quantum Device Laboratory.
