Project Details
Program
Materials Science & Engineering
Field of Study
Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry
Division
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Faculty Lab Link
Project Description
This project aims to explore the interactions between different dopants and a range of polymer matrices beyond homoconjugated polymers, assessing how these interactions influence charge transport properties. Students will employ techniques such as UV-Vis spectroscopy, EPR, and GIWAXS to study the doping mechanisms in blended polymer systems. Through systematic variation of dopant types and concentrations, this project seeks to uncover insights into the fundamental principles governing dopant behavior and its effects on the electronic properties of the polymer films. It is recommended that student has background knowledge on methods such as GIWAX and EPR and techniques to analyse doping as well as conjugated polymers. Please only apply if you would consider to study further in the related topic in the group.
About the Researcher
Derya Baran
Associate Professor, Material Science and Engineering
Affiliations
Education Profile
- Research Associate, JA¼lich Forschungszentrum, Germany, 2016
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, UK, 2015
- PhD, Material Science and Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany, 2014
- MSc, Chemistry, Middle East Technical University, Turkey, 2010
- BSc, Chemistry, Middle East Technical University, Turkey, 2008
Research Interests
a€‹Professor Baran's research interests lie in the area of solution processable organic/hybrid soft materials for electronic devices. Such soft semiconductor materials possess a viable platform for printed, large area, stretchable and wearable electronics that can be used as solar cells, smart windows, OFETs, thermoelectrics, sensors and bio-electronics. a€‹Professor Baran is particularly interested in interface engineering for organic/hybrid solar cells, transparent solar cells for building integrated photovoltaics and stability/degradation studies for long lifetime organic solar cells. She has led projects on i) conjugated polymers for electrochromic devices; ii) non-fullerene acceptors for organic solar cells; iii) multi-component and multi-layered solar cell devices; and iv) understanding the correlation between recombination and nano-morphology in solution processed solar cells. Professor Baran aims to expand the applications of solution processable organic/hybrid semiconductors and to explore their limits in organic/hybrid thermoelectric devices and bio-electronics in the future.Selected Publications
- Baran, D.; Ashraf, S. R.; Hanifi, A. David; Abdelsamie, M.; Gasparini, N.; Rohr, J.; Holliday, S.; Wadsworth, A.; Lockett, S.; Nelson, J.; Brabec, C. J.; Amassian, A.; Salleo, A.; Kirhcartz, T.; Durrant, J. R., McCulloch, I. ,2016, Reducing the efficiencya-stabilitya-cost gap of organic photovoltaics with highly efficient and stable small molecule acceptor ternary solar cells, Nat. Mater. DOI: 10.1038/NMAT4797.
- Baran, D.; Kirhcartz, T.; Wheeler, S.; Dimitrov, S.; Abdelsamie, M.; Gorman, J.; Ashraf, S. R.; Holliday, S.; Gasparini, N.; Yan, H.; Amassian, A.; Brabec, C. J.; Durrant, J. R.; McCulloch, I., 2016, Reduced voltage losses yield 10% and >1V fullerene free organic solar cells, Energ. Environ. Sci., DOI: 10.1039/C6EE02598F.
- Gasparini, N.; Jiao, Xuechen, Heumueller, T.; Baran, D.; Matt, G. M.; Fladischer, S.; Spieker, E.; Ade, H.; Brabec, C. J.; Ameri, T., 2016, Designing ternary blend bulk heterojunction solar cells with reduced carrier recombination and a fill factor of 77%, Nat. Energ. 1, 16118.
- Holliday, S.; Ashraf, S. R.; Wadsworth, A.; Baran, D.; Nielsen, C. B.; Tan, C. H.; Dimitrov, S.; Yousaf, S. A.; Shang, Z.; Gasparini, N.; Brabec, C. J.; Salleo, A.; Durrant, J. R. ; McCulloch, I., 2016, High-efficiency and air-stable P3HT-based polymer solar cells with a new non-fullerene acceptor, Nat. Commun., 7,11585.
- Hou Y.; Chen W.; Baran D.; Stubhan T.; Luechinger N. A.; Hartmeier B.; Richter M.; Min J.; Chen S.; Ramirez Quiroz C. O.; Li N.; Zhang H.; Heumueller T.; Matt G. J.; Osvet A.; Forberich K.; Zhang Z. G.; Li Y.; Winter B.; Schweizer P.; Spiecker E.; Brabec, C. J., 2016, Overcoming the Interface Losses in Planar Heterojunction Perovskitea€Based Solar Cells, Adv. Mater., 28, 5112a-5120.
Desired Project Deliverables
A successful project will deliver a set of guidelines for polymer-dopant interactions and the student will gain experience on specialized techniques.