On April 5 2016, the University of Toronto hosted the ‘Angstrom Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series’ focusing on photovoltaics. David Ginger, from the University of Washington, has been a partner of Angstrom’s for many years, and he was brought in to collaborate with several of our partners at the University of Toronto, including Dwight Seferos (host of the event), the Ted Sargent group, Tim Bender and group, and new faculty member, Mark Wilson.
Ginger is a microscopist studying fascinating new ways to image organic, perovskite, and quantum dot photovoltaic devices. He presented his work on novel methods for analyzing the influence of thin film heterogeneity on photovoltaic device performance using a combination of optical spectroscopy and scanning probe microscopy.
David Ginger in front of the Angstrom system in his lab.
His efforts have given evidence that, contrary to previously published work, heterogeneity – such as grain boundaries – have significant impact on the device characteristics of organic and perovskite photovoltaics. This provides researchers in these fields with not only a tool characterization method, but also a new and interesting perspective on ways to improve the performance of these types of devices.
David’s results are of global interest to the researchers in attendance; by taking a broad approach to researching photovoltaics, David’s work can be applied to improving all potential future technologies rather than focusing on progressing only a single technology or specific material architectures.
Please follow these links to learn about these researchers, and the work they are doing in renewable energy:
