Materials discovery, synthesis, and characterisation
We specialise in developing novel and advanced functional materials such as semiconductors via low-cost and scalable processing methods for various energy-oriented applications.
One of the materials of interest for us has been halide perovskites as exciting materials for future high-performance optoelectronics, with rapid developments taking place towards solar cells and LEDs. These materials defy conventional wisdom in that they have moderate defect densities yet retain excellent optoelectronic properties including strong absorption and long charge-carrier diffusion lengths, with the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solar cells now >25%. Despite the significant progress of PCE in perovskite photovoltaics over the past decade, development of sustainable viable perovskite-based energy devices requires a breakthrough in the development of stable and long-lifetime perovskite materials with high optoelectronic quality. Furthermore, non-toxic alternatives will facilitate the widespread adoption of perovskite materials/devices in wireless sensor networks, consumer electronics and IoT applications. We not only explore various scalable synthesis methods of a large variety of perovskites[1,2] and other novel semiconductors[3] but are also strongly engaged in the analysis of structural and optoelectronic characteristics such as thin-film morphology[4], compositional variation[5,6], charge carrier dynamic[7], and photon-recycling[8,9]. We also employ advanced synchrotron-based techniques at the Diamond Light Source synchrotron such as Grazing-Incidence Wide-Angle X-Ray Spectroscopy (GIWAXS) and Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (HAXPES) to further understand semiconductor material and device behaviour.
Representative publications
[1] M Ibrahim Dar, Mojtaba Abdi‐Jalebi, Neha Arora, Michael Grätzel, Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin; “Growth Engineering of CH3NH3PbI3 Structures for High‐Efficiency Solar Cells” Adv. Energy Mater. 6, 1501358 (2016).
[2] Mojtaba Abdi-Jalebi, et al., Michael Grätzel, Richard H. Friend; “Impact of Monovalent Cation Halide Additives on the Structural and Optoelectronic Properties of CH3NH3PbI3 Perovskite” Adv. Energy Mater., 6, 1502472 (2016).
[3] Sanyang Han, et al., Mojtaba Abdi-Jalebi, Akshay Rao, “Lanthanide-doped inorganic nanoparticles turn molecular triplet excitons bright”, Nature, 587, 594–599 (2020).
[4] Naveen Kumar Tailor, Mojtaba Abdi-Jalebi, et al., Soumitra Satapathi, “Recent progress in morphology optimization in perovskite solar cell”, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2020,8, 21356-21386.
[5] Mojtaba Abdi-Jalebi, et al., Richard H. Friend, Samuel D. Stranks, “Potassium- and Rubidium-Passivated Alloyed Perovskite Films: Optoelectronic Properties and Moisture Stability”, ACS Energy Lett., 3, pp 2671–2678 (2018).
[6] Harry C Sansom, et al., Mojtaba Abdi-Jalebi, Laura M Herz, Henry J Snaith, Matthew J Rosseinsky, “Highly Absorbing Lead-Free Semiconductor Cu2AgBiI6 for Photovoltaic Applications from the Quaternary CuI–AgI–BiI3 Phase Space”, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 143, 10, 3983–3992 (2021).
[7] Sascha Feldmann, Mojtaba Abdi-Jalebi, et al., Felix Deschler, “Photodoping through local charge carrier accumulation in alloyed hybrid perovskites for highly efficient luminescence”, Nature Photonics, 14, 123–128 (2020).
[8] Luis Pazos-Outón, Mojtaba Abdi-Jalebi, et al., Richard Friend, Felix Deschler, “Photon recycling in lead iodide perovskite solar cells” Science, 351, 1430-1433 (2016).