Scialog

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Solar Energy Conversion

2010-2014

Meeting the world’s need for clean, renewable energy will require new, high-performing materials with greater stability, lower cost and higher efficiency than materials currently used in solar energy devices. It will also require innovation in methods for solar energy conversion to electricity.

Scialog: Solar Energy Conversion brought together newly tenured professors doing high-risk, high-reward solar-energy research, as well as top national authorities in photovoltaics and solar fuel, to help accelerate the pace of innovation and catalyze ideas with the potential to advance the fundamental scientific understanding of solar energy conversion to electricity or fuels.

The conferences aimed to build a creative cross-disciplinary community to identify and analyze bottlenecks in achieving more efficient and durable solar energy conversion and develop approaches for transformative breakthroughs.

Scialog: Solar Energy Conversion was the pilot for the Scialog program, with different participants and a slightly different structure from subsequent initiatives. Scialog: Solar Energy Conversion awards were made to 30 Fellows who wrote research proposals in advance of the meetings. These awardees were further along in their careers than today’s Scialog Fellows, and the 50+ conference participants included other researchers who had been awarded National Science Foundation grants to pursue solar energy research. Then as now, conference participants formed teams to write proposals for cutting-edge collaborative research. In total, 17 of these proposals were funded.

Fellows & Facilitators

Fellows
Facilitators

Team Awards

2014 Team Awards

Emerging Au-VO2 Nanocomposites as a Potentially Switchable CO2 Catalyst

  • Yohannes Abate
    Physics
    Georgia State University

    David Cliffel
    Chemistry
    Vanderbilt University

    Min Ouyang
    Physics
    University of Maryland, College Park

Light-Mediated Strain as an Adaptive Tool Toward Efficient Catalysis

  • Vanessa Huxter
    Chemistry and Biochemistry
    University of Arizona

    Sara Skrabalak
    Chemistry
    Indiana University Bloomington

Scalable Tandem Architecture for Solar Water Splitting

  • Shannon Boettcher
    Chemistry & Biochemistry
    University of Oregon

    Zachary Holman
    Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering
    Arizona State University – Tempe Campus

Towards a Tunable Platform for Exploring Band Alignment and Mediating Efficient Charge Transfer: Combining Quantum Confinement with Mid-Gap States

  • Sarbajit Banerjee
    Chemistry
    Texas A&M University, College Station

    David Watson
    Chemistry
    SUNY – University at Buffalo

What’s Inside a Perovskite Solar Cell?  Learning from (Local) Structure to Design Better Perovskite Solar Cells

  • Sarbajit Banerjee
    Chemistry
    Texas A&M University, College Station

    Richard Brutchey
    Chemistry
    University of Southern California

    Amy Prieto
    Chemistry
    Colorado State University
2013 Team Awards

Investigation into Interfacial States in Hybrid Polymer: Nanocrystal Solar Cells – Finding a Path to High Efficiencies

  • Stephen Bradforth
    Chemistry
    University of Southern California

    Richard Brutchey
    Chemistry
    University of Southern California

    Frank Osterloh
    Chemistry
    University of California, Davis

Silicon Diselenide: A 1.7 eV Solar Absorber for Tandem Silicon Photovoltaics

  • Chito Kendrick
    Electrical and Computer Engineering
    Michigan Technological University

    Joan Redwing
    Materials Science & Engineering
    Pennsylvania State University

    Adele Tamboli
    Physics
    National Renewable Energy Laboratory

    Eric Toberer
    Physics
    Colorado School of Mines

Spectrum Splitting for Low-Cost Hybrid PV/Solar Thermal Generation

  • Michael Bartl
    Chemistry
    University of Utah

    Benjamin Lear
    Chemistry
    Pennsylvania State University

    Adele Tamboli
    Physics
    National Renewable Energy Laboratory

    Eric Toberer
    Physics
    Colorado School of Mines

Targeting a New Product for Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction: Formaldehyde

  • Mu-Hyun Baik
    Chemistry
    Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology

    Ryan Trovitch
    Chemistry & Biochemistry
    Arizona State University – Tempe Campus

The “Goldilocks” Platform for Efficient H2 Fuel Generation: Enhanced Solar-Matched Photocatalysis of H2O using GaN Surface States

  • Michael Bartl
    Chemistry
    University of Utah
    Jordan Gerton
    Physics & Astronomy
    University of Utah
2013 Individual Awards

20% Efficiency Nanostructured PbS Solar Cells

  • Rene Lopez
    Applied Physical Sciences
    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Non-Toxic, Low Temperature Preparations of Earth Abundant Nanocrystal Inks for High Efficiency Photovoltaic Modules

  • Amy Prieto
    Chemistry
    Colorado State University

Probing Fundamental Light-Matter Interactions in Colloidal Hybrid Quantum Structures for Novel Plasmon-Enhanced Solar Energy Conversion

  • Min Ouyang
    Physics
    University of Maryland, College Park
2012 Team Awards

BaSi2, a New Earth-Abundant Solar Cell Material

  • So Hirata
    Chemistry
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    Song Jin
    Chemistry
    University of Wisconsin – Madison

    Jiangeng Xue
    Materials Science and Engineering
    University of Florida

Photo-Induced CO2 Reduction Using Reverse TCA Cycle Enzymes

  • Gordana Dukovic
    Chemistry & Biochemistry
    University of Colorado Boulder

    Sean Elliott
    Chemistry
    Boston University

Supramolecular Non-Fullerene Electron Acceptors for Organic PVs–A Pathway Towards 20% Efficient Cells a Cost Less than $0.50/W

  • Michael Chabinyc
    Materials Department
    University of California, Santa Barbara

    Alan Sellinger
    Chemistry & Geochemistry
    Colorado School of Mines

    Sean Shaheen
    Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering
    University of Colorado Boulder
2011 Team Awards

A Modular Supramolecular Approach to Organic Photovoltaic Materials

  • Ronald Castellano
    Chemistry
    University of Florida

    Jiangeng Xue
    Materials Science and Engineering
    University of Florida

Dopant-Carrier Auger De-Excitation as a New Approach to Multi-Threshold Solar Energy Conversion Devices

  • Daniel Gamelin
    Chemistry
    University of Washington

    David Ginger
    Chemistry
    University of Washington

Fractals as a Promising Geometry for Enhanced Solar Energy Conversion

  • Boaz Ilan
    School of Natural Sciences
    University of California, Merced

    Frank Osterloh
    Chemistry
    University of California, Davis

    Sean Shaheen
    Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering
    University of Colorado Boulder

    Richard Taylor
    Physics
    University of Oregon

Holographic Spectrum Splitting for Multijunction ORganic Photovoltaics

  • Raymond Kostuk
    Electrical & Computer Engineering
    University of Arizona

    Christine Luscombe
    Materials Science & Engineering
    University of Washington

    Sean Shaheen
    Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering
    University of Colorado Boulder

Novel Low-Loss Plasmonic Waveguides to Create High Efficiency PV from Ultra-Thin Organic and Low-Purity Earth Abundant Inorganic Layers

  • Hugh Hillhouse
    Chemistry
    University of Washington

    Janelle Leger
    Physics & Astronomy
    Western Washington University

    Christine Luscombe
    Materials Science & Engineering
    University of Washington

Role of Fractal Patterns on New Materials for Solar Energy Applications: Inorganic Clusters, Films and Fractal Geometry Simulations

  • Darren Johnson
    Chemistry and Biochemistry
    University of Oregon

    Richard Taylor
    Physics
    University of Oregon
2011 Individual Awards

Computational Discovery and Optimization of Organic Photovoltaic Materials

  • So Hirata
    Chemistry
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Enabling Solar Energy Conversion using Rational and Scalable Growth of 1D Nanomaterials Made of Inexpensive Semiconductors

  • Song Jin
    Chemistry
    University of Wisconsin – Madison

Energy Pooling as a Novel Thermodynamic Mechanism for Organic Photovoltaics

  • Sean Shaheen
    Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering
    University of Colorado Boulder

Investigating Charge Transport and Recombination in Bulk Heterojunction Organic Photovoltaics with Conjugated Polymer Columnar Structures on Graphene

  • Lei Zhai
    Chemistry
    University of Central Florida
2010 Team Awards

Artificial Nanoscale Enzymes for CO2 Reduction Catalysis

  • John Gilbertson
    Chemistry
    Western Washington University

    Raymond Schaak
    Chemistry
    Pennsylvania State University

Bio-Inspired Electro-Optic Structure for Silicon Photovoltaics

  • Rene Lopez
    Applied Physical Sciences
    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

    Kathleen Melde
    Electrical Engineering
    University of Arizona

    Joan Redwing
    Materials Science & Engineering
    Pennsylvania State University

High Spatial Resolution Electrochemistry of Biological Inspired Systems

  • David Cliffel
    Chemistry
    Vanderbilt University

    Sean Elliott
    Chemistry
    Boston University

    Stefan Lutz
    Division of Research
    Codexis

Nanoplasmonic Focusing of Light Fields to Amplify Non-Linear Optical Effects in Composite Photovoltaics

  • John Lupton
    Physics and Astronomy
    University of Utah

    Eugene Mishchenko
    Physics
    University of Utah
2010 Individual Awards

Biologically Optimized Protein Films for Solar Energy Conversion

  • David Cliffel
    Chemistry
    Vanderbilt University

Bottom-Up Assembly of Nanoscale Heterojunctions for Photochemical Energy Conversion

  • Frank Osterloh
    Chemistry
    University of California, Davis

Directed evolution of hydrogenase for efficient light-driven hydrogen production via quantum dot-enzyme hybrid systems

  • Stefan Lutz
    Division of Research
    Codexis

Molecular Approach to Converting Solar Energy into Chemical Fuel

  • Alan Heyduk
    Chemistry
    University of California, Irvine

Molecular-Level Design of Metal-Oxyfluoride/Organic Solids for Visible-Light Photocatalysis

  • Paul Maggard
    Chemistry
    North Carolina State University

New Chemical Routes for Discovering and Improving Visible-Light Photocatalysts

  • Raymond Schaak
    Chemistry
    Pennsylvania State University

Overcoming Shockley-Queisser Limit on PV Solar-Energy Conversion Efficiency: Multiple Exciton
Generation in One-Dimensional Nanostructures

  • Jie Shan
    Applied and Engineering Physics
    Cornell University

Photoconversion Physics in Quantum-Wire Arrays with Double-Gyroid Topology

  • Hugh Hillhouse
    Chemistry
    University of Washington

Synthesis and Characterization of Core-Shell Wire Heterostructures

  • Joan Redwing
    Materials Science & Engineering
    Pennsylvania State University

Towards Converting CO2 to Fuel: A Computer-Aided Experimental Discovery of Novel CO2 Reduction Catalysts

  • Mu-Hyun Baik
    Chemistry
    Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology

Transforming Heme Proteins into Solar Driven Redox Catalysts by Site-Directed Zinc Porphyrin Mutation

  • Sean Elliott
    Chemistry
    Boston University

SPONSORS

  • Research Corporation for Science Advancement

Additional Support