MateriAlZ Seminar: Feng Yan
Friday, September 22, 2023, 11:00 a.m., MST
Feng Yan
Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy
Arizona State University
"Highly Efficient Thin Film Photovoltaics for Solar Energy Conversion"
Zoom link | Passcode: 500316
MateriAlZ Seminar website | YouTube | Twitter
Abstract
Solar Energy represents the most abundant renewable energy on the earth. Photovoltaic (PV) devices, commonly known as solar cells, can directly convert solar energy into electrical energy. Thin film solar cell technology is a low-cost and high-efficiency approach to realize sustainable solar electricity generation. To date, most of the single-junction solar cell technologies are far from the theoretical power conversion efficiency defined by the Shockley Queisser Efficiency Limit (SQ limit). Such efficiency losses originate from the material's electronic and photonic defects, interfaces and grain boundaries carrier recommendation, and device architecture imperfection. Thus, it is in high demand to minimize this efficiency loss and explore cost-effective and earth-abundant materials through systematic materials design and device engineering for solar cells. This seminar presents the strategies to improve the efficiency, stability, and cost-effectiveness of chalcogenides (e.g., CdTe and Sb2Se3) and perovskite (e.g., FAMAPbI3) thin film solar cell technologies. The technical challenges and potential pathways for higher power conversion efficiency and large-scale manufacturing will be discussed.
Bio
Dr. Feng Yan joined Arizona State University as an associate professor in the MSE Program at ASU in January 2023. He worked as a senior development engineer at the advanced research department of First Solar, Inc., Perrysburg, (Ohio, U.S.), focusing on high-efficiency CdTe thin film solar cells research from 2014 to 2017. Dr. Yan earned his Ph.D. degree in materials science from the National University of Singapore in 2012. After that, he received his postdoctoral training at Drexel University, Northwestern University, and Harvard University from 2011 to 2013. His research has been sponsored by NSF, DOE, NASA, USDA and ORAU as lead principal investigator, including the 2020 NSF CAREER Awardee and 2018 ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Awardee. He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed papers, including Nature Energy, Nature Communications, ACS Nano, etc. Dr. Yan is a member of the Materials Research Society (MRS), American Chemistry Society (ACS), IEEE PVSC, and TMS.