Organic Electronics covers many research areas in materials science and engineering, including the design of:
- thin film organic solar cells for optimal photovoltaic performance
- organic light emitting devices with optimal light emission, and
- inorganic scintillators with optimal energy resolution for applications in nuclear medical imaging and excitonic and photonic processes in materials, including:
- crystals
- non-crystalline materials
- nanostructures (quantum wells, wires and dots).
Also, some Masters students in the field of Electrical and Electronics Engineering are engaged each year to work on their thesis projects each semester.
Research Projects are available for PhD, Masters by Research, Masters thesis projects and undergraduate fourth-year thesis projects in the following areas.
Design and fabrication of thin film organic solar cells for optimal photovoltaic performance
There are four key processes which control the performance of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells (OSCs):
- absorption of photons leading to the creation of excitons
- transport of excitons to the donor (D) – acceptor (A) interface
- formation of charge transfer excitons at the interface and its dissociation
- collection of dissociated free electrons and holes to the cathode and anode electrodes, respectively, to produce current.
The research activities on designing involve optimisation of all the four processes leading to the optimised power conversion efficiency of OSCs. The optimal designs thus achieved can be used to fabricate OSCs in the laboratory and test their performance.
Research Coordinators: Prof Jai Singh.
Design and fabrication of organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) for optimal light emission
The injected charge carriers in the active organic layer sandwiched between the two electrodes for excitons in two different spin configurations, singlet and triplet. Statistically, the probability of forming singlet and triplet excitons may be found to be in the ratio of one to three (1:3).
The radiative recombination of singlet excitons is spin-allowed but that of triplet excitons is spin forbidden, and hence the emission can occur only through singlets leading to an emission efficiency of 25%. Thus, capturing the emission from triplet excitons becomes attractive but challenging. We have invented a new exciton-spin-orbit-photon interaction operator which can flip the triplet spin to singlet configuration enabling the emission from triplet excitons.
Optimisation of light emission from organic light emitting devices is studied in this project and optimal designs thus achieved may be used to fabricate some OLEDs and test them.
Research Coordinator: Prof Jai Singh.
Designing inorganic scintillators with optimal energy resolutions for applications in nuclear medical imaging
Existing scintillators suffer from nonlinearity that reduces their energy resolution leading to inaccurate diagnosis and assessment of staging of diseases like cancers, tumours, Alzheimer’s, etc. We have successfully explained the cause of nonlinearity in scintillatos. Further theoretical methods will be developed to reduce/rectify the nonlinearity problem.
Research Coordinator: Prof Jai Singh.
Excitonic and photonic processes in materials
This project deals with the dynamics of excitons in semiconductors, including bulk crystalline, non-crystalline and nan-structures. The project is suitable for PhD candidates interested in condensed matter theory with applications in quantum dot lasers and hybrid of nanostructures.
Research Coordinator: Prof Jai Singh.
Organic Electronics Laboratory
Prof Jai Singh and his research group have been studying organic solar cells and have published many theoretical papers in highly prestigious international journals.
Our current PhD student Hooman Mehdizadeh Rad has been successful in fabricating organic solar cells for the first time in our laboratory under the supervision of Prof Jai Singh.
The Organic Electronics Lab is used actively by Hooman Mehdizadeh Rad for his work and also to co-supervise the engineering thesis students under the supervision of Prof Jai Singh. Our goal is to fabricate better performing organic solar cells at CDU in the very near future.