Research

Solar energy and energy efficiency

Many of our research projects focus on solar energy conversion (sunlight to electrical power) using a variety of approaches. Our research projects are:

• Low-cost, high-efficiency organic solar cells
  
• Low-cost "expanded" inorganic microconcentrator solar cells
  
• Solar textile
  
• Photonic media for high-efficiency thermophotovoltaic and solar thermal systems
  
• Photonic media for improved outcoupling from organic light-emitting diodes
• Photonic media for coherent light trapping in thin-film solar cells
  
• Phonon transport engineering
  
• Plasmonic solar cells
  
• Solution-processed transparent conductors for thin-film solar cells
  
• Lateral multijunction cells based on nanowire pn-junctions and a plasmonic spectral concentrator/splitter
• Exploratory: nanometer-scale electron-spin resonance imaging of operating organic devices
• Exploratory: vacuum thermionic converters

Sensors

We have developed a platform technology we call "expandable silicon" that can be used to deploy foundry-processed silicon integrated circuits over large and/or curved surfaces in a cost-effective manner. We are currently pursuing:

• Expandable silicon sensor networks for smart materials
  
• Curved silicon focal plane arrays
  

Nanoelectronics

We're interested in exploring how molecules might be useful in future computing systems.

• Molecular switches that beat kT/q
• Genetically engineered peptides for defect detection in VLSI manufacturing