Title: Toward High Performance Polymer Solar Cells

Speaker: Xiong Gong, University of Akron

Time: 10:00 a.m., June 11, 2013

Venue: Lecture Hall, Second Floor, Building of Luminescent and Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, SCUT North Campus

Sponsor: School of Materials Science and Engineering

Abstract: Bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells that can be fabricated by solution processing techniques are under intense investigation in both academic institutions and industrial companies because of their potential to enable mass production of flexible and cost-effective alternative to silicon-based electronics. Despite the envisioned advantages and recent technology advances, so far the performance of polymer solar cells is still inferior to inorganic counterparts in terms of the efficiency and stability. There are many factors limiting the performance of polymer solar cells. Among them, the optical and electronic properties of materials in the active layer, device architecture and elimination of PEDOT: PSS are the most determining factors in the overall performance. In this presentation, I will present how we approach high performance of polymer solar cells. By development of novel materials, fabrication of inverted polymer solar cells and minimization of biomolecular recombination, we are able to observe over 10 % efficiency.

Introduction to Associate Professor Xiong Gong: Currently, Dr. Gong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Polymer Engineering at the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, University of Akron. He is also an Adjunct Professor the State Key Laboratory of Luminescence Materials and Devices at the South China University of Technology, P. R. China. Prior to that, he was a senior research scientist in the Center for Polymers and Organic Solids at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and a manager and senior scientist at the Cbrite Inc. from 2005 to 2010. He did his post-doctoral fellow with Professor Alan J Heeger (Noble Prize Winner) at UCSB. He obtained his Ph. D. in Physics from Nankai University and M.S. in Chemistry from Lanzhou University. He has accomplished 155 articles published in the peer reviewed journals including in Science, with a peer citation ~ 8000 times. He earned an H-index of 40. He also contributed 29 granted/pending patents and 8 book chapters.