RESEARCH
Our Vision
Our vision is to catalyse a new era in the study of energy materials by elucidating the electronic and structural dynamics and nanoscale transport of charges, excitons, phonons and ions with unprecedented spatial and temporal precision. We study a range of materials with applications ranging from photovoltaics and LEDs to batteries and thermoelectrics. We seek to provide fundamental insights into the physics of these disordered nanoscale materials and use these insights to develop strategies and device concepts that can bring radical new functionalities beyond current physical limits
Elucidating Ultrafast Electronic and Structural Dynamics in Nanomaterials
We are developing and applying new methods to understand the coupled electronic and structural dynamic of charges and excitons in a range of nanoscale materials, such as organic semiconductors, nanocrystals, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites, 2D semiconductors and more.
Learn more via the links below:
Ashoka et al, Nature Comms (2022), Read more
Schnedermann et al, Nature Comms (2019), Read more
Pandya et al, JACS (2018), Read more
Jakowetz et al, Nature Materials (2017), Read more
Stern et al, Nature Chemistry (2017), Read more
Bakulin et al, Nature Chemistry (2016), Read more
Elucidating Quantum Transport with Ultrafast Microscopy
How do excitons, charges and polaritons move in nanoscale semiconductor? What are the limits for true quantum transport of these excitations and how do they interact with phonons and defects? Our ultrafast transient optical microscopy allows us to image the transport of particles and quasiparticles in real space with sub-10fs time-resolution and sub-10nm spatial precision in all three directions. This is opening up a previously unexplored and exciting regime of physics.
Learn more via the links below:
Zhang et al. Nature Materials (2022), Read More
Pandya et al. Nature Comms (2021), Read More
Sneyd et al. Science Advances (2021), Read More
Bretscher, et al. Science Advances (2021), Read More
Frohna, et al. Nature Nano (2021), Read More
Sung et al. Nature Physics (2019), Read More
Nanoscale Ion Transport and Phase Transitions
How do ions move in battery electrodes? What the the limits of fast charging? How do structural changes cause degradation in battery performance? We have developed novel optical light scattering based microscopies which are giving us unprecedented insights into these questions.
Learn more via the links below:
Merryweather et al., Nature Materials (2022), Read More
New Hybrid Materials and Devices Concepts
We design and fabricate nanomaterials, including lanthanide-doped nanoparticles, colloidal quantum dots and hybrid organic-inorganic systems. We explore the photophysics of these systems using our ultrafast spectroscopy toolkit and also explore their use in next generation of electronic and photonic devices, such as photovoltaics that could break the Shockley-Queisser limit.
Learn more via the links below:
