Molecular electronic materials for photovoltaic and photochemical energy conversion

MATERIALS RIG SEMINAR

 Professor Jenny Nelson, FRS, Professor of Physics, Department of Physics, Imperial College London,

Abstract: Molecular electronic materials, such as conjugated polymers and molecules, offer diverse and potentially tuneable electronic, optical and structural properties, making them appealing for applications. They have been widely studied for photovoltaic energy conversion, with a conversion efficiency that has risen from 1% to around 20% within two decades, largely through advances in materials design. The energy conversion mechanism involves processes of  photon absorption, charge separation and charge collection, and for solar cells these processes are fairly well understood and have been optimised. The sequence of events is analogous both to the early stages of photochemical energy conversion in photosynthesis, and to the conversion of solar into chemical energy in polymer photocatalysts, although the latter systems are less well understood. We will show how a common set of modelling tools can be applied to analyse energy conversion in the different systems, and discuss the impact of molecular structure on energy and charge transfer, light harvesting, and loss pathways.

All welcome!