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Towards Predictive Modeling of Thin Film Organic Photovoltaic Devices: Linking Fabrication Process, Nanostructure and Property

Baskar Ganapathysubramanian
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University

Abstract:

Recent experimental studies reveal that significant additional improvement in the power conversion efficiency of organic photovoltaic devices is possible through better morphology control of the organic thin film layer during the manufacturing process. A set of computational tools that can (a) predict the evolving three dimensional morphology within the active layer during the fabrication process; and (b) relate the structure with device properties would significantly augment current experimental efforts and strengthen the pursuit of this vision of high power conversion efficiency devices. In this talk, I will discuss recently developed multiscale computational strategies that link fabrication process, nanostructure and property of thin films. The topics covered in this talk are: 1) A computational framework that effectively acts like a virtual "stereological microscope" to visualize morphology evolution from early stages of phase separation until the formation of the stable morphology. This multiscale framework is based on a continuum description of evaporation-induced phase-separation in ternary systems and is able to resolve nano-morphological features while being able to simulate device scale domains. 2) A suite of morphology descriptors that encode the various physical processes that affect the total power conversion efficiency of a photovoltaic cell. 3) A virtual performance characterization framework that efficiently "interrogates" the morphology to investigate relationships between the morphology at the nano-scale with the device performance. Baskar Ganapathysubramanian is the William March Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. His research interests are in stochastic analysis, multiscale modeling, and design of materials and processes using computational techniques. Ganapathysubramanian completed his PhD and MS from Cornell University and holds a BS degree from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras.

Thursday, May 5, 2011
11:00AM AP&M 2402