3. University of Surrey (USUR)

Description

The University of Surrey (USUR) was established in 1966 by Royal Charter. It is a global university with a world-class research profile and an enterprising spirit. In 2002 it won Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher & Further Education for its internationally renowned research and development on optoelectronic devices and ion beam applications. The Advanced Technology Institute (ATI), as part of the university, houses some 160 multidisciplinary researchers and many of the major facilities for production of carbon nanotechnology and the fabrication and characterization of electronic devices, including an ion beam centre, a microfabrication clean-room, a nanofabrication/nanoprobe laboratory, an ultra-fast laser laboratory and a plasma laboratory.

Expertise related to the project

USUR will be involved in the materials processing and fabrication of OPVs, PPV, OTFT and OLED devices by a variety of lab-scale (spin coating, slot-die, gravure printing, casting, inkjet printing) fabrication techniques, will assess the developed protocols for the optimization of lab-scale processes, and will contribute to modeling of integrated nanomaterial properties, their integration into devices and their subsequent effect on electrical and optical device properties across multi-scale dimensions. Characterization will be undertaken using optical (PL, EQE, Solar simulator) and electrical techniques for device characterization, and physical characterization (AFM, KPFM, STS, SEM, TEM, Contact Angle) for nanomaterials analysis. In modelling we will use VASP to determine energy minimized structure-property relationship of organometallic perovskites for PPVs paying attention to electronic band structure (with spin-orbit coupling) and band occupancy arising from density of states calculations. We will explore how different atom substitutions affect the nature (direct/indirect) band gap and the formation of defects and determine the relative energy scales (band offsets and alignments) and relate to electrical transport data.

Description of profile of key staff

Professor Ravi Silva (M)
is the Director of the Advanced Technology Institute (ATI) and heads the interdisciplinary Nano-Electronics Centre (NEC). He will coordinate the project effort for USUR. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and is currently conducting a major study on the deployment of solar PV in the UK and India. He is an expert in nanotechnology and carbon electronics.

Dr. Wei Zhang (M)
is a Lecturer in Energy Technology at the Advanced Technology Institute (ATI), University of Surrey. He holds a PhD from National University of Singapore. Current research interests include halide perovskites for photovoltaic and light-emission applications, and low-dimensional nanomaterials for energy conversion and storage.

Dr. David Carey (M)
is Head of Department of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering since 2014. He holds a PhD in physics from Trinity College Dublin and was previously an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow. He is Fellow of the Institute of Physics (London) and the IET. Current research interests include structural, electronic and phonon properties of 2D materials via ab initio DFT and DFPT calculations of graphene, silicene, germanene as well as of carbon nanotubes and defects in semiconductors; CVD growth and molecular doping of graphene and carbon nanotubes; electrical transport properties at high fields and frequency.