Materials and Technologies for Energy, Electronics, and beyond

The constant quest for new materials has marked our journey from stone age to silicon age. For continued progress and sustenance, we need materials and technology that transcends traditional disciplines of science and engineering. The quest for sustainable energy is an existential challenge before mankind. Organic solar cells have the potential of becoming ubiquitous sources of renewable energy owing to their cost-effectiveness, scalability, and ease of fabrication on lightweight, flexible substrates. However, they have lower efficiency and the active layer in the organic photovoltaic (OPV) device is sensitive to environmental factors. This talk would present a novel technique for encapsulation of the OPV device and also discuss new device architectures for improving device efficiencies. The presentation will also discuss novel device structures incorporating redox active molecules to create hybrid inorganic-organic devices for applications in molecular electronics.