My Research

Research involves constant investigating the capacity of novel materials for solar energy conversion. Throughout my research career, I have studied two main group of materials which are metal halide perovskites for use in photovoltaic application and multijunction GaInP/GaAs/Ge photoelectrode for solar-to-hydrogen application. 

Metal halide perovskite solar cells

In an effort to enhance energy conversion efficiency of metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs), I have recently begun to study various aspects of non-radiative recombinations, their impacts in charge transport and recombination, and the resulting current-voltage hysteresis characteristics and photovoltaic performance of metal-electrode based PSCs. On the basis on these studies, I have designed and optimized numerous passivating agents to boost photovoltaic performance as well as stability of metal-electrode based PSCs. I am currently looking to expand this work to carbon-electrode based PSCs.

Solar water splitting

Given the ability to generate exceptionally large open-circuit voltage of multijunction GaInP/GaAs/Ge solar cells, one could be expected that these solar cells when incorporated with effective catalysts can be efficient photoelectrodes for conversion of solar energy to hydrogen without the needs of external bias. With this in mind, I have developed novel methods to deposit extremely thin (few tens of nanometer) but uniform metal layers on top of the GaInP/GaAs/Ge semiconductor. A major advantage of this development is its significant reduced over potential associated with the photoelectrode, which allows it to achieve a solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of >10%.   

Besides, I have also developed a very simple but effective method to electroless-deposite thin films of noble metals on top of GaAs semiconductor. The versatility of this method opens up a new pathway for low-cost metal thin films for solar-to-fuels applications.