Chemistry Seminar: Solar Energy Conversion in Organic Materials

Monday, March 7, 2016

3:30 PM-4:30 PM

Ryan Pensack, PhD, Princeton University

“Solar Energy Conversion in Organic Materials: Novel Insights from Ultrafast Spectroscopy”

Sunlight is an abundant form of renewable energy. Sunlight is vastly underutilized, however, because current solar energy conversion technologies are not sufficiently cost competitive. In this talk, I will describe the appeal of organic materials for solar energy conversion and highlight how insights into their energy conversion processes can be gained through ultrafast spectroscopy. Specifically, I will discuss our work developing ultrafast solvatochromism-assisted vibrational spectroscopy, a method that enabled us to identify structural aspects that limit light-to-electrical energy conversion in organic materials. Additionally, I will discuss a recent effort that is revealing completely new insights into how a single photon is converted into multiple excitations in organic materials through a combination of chemical synthesis, materials preparation and characterization, and ultrafast spectroscopy.

Contact Information

Prof. Frank Ji
215.895.2562
hj56@drexel.edu