Nanomaterials for Energy Harvesting

Prof. Ted Sargent

The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (Photonics)

Abstract:

I will review advances in making solar cells that are flexible, lightweight, and tuned to the sun's spectrum. I will focus in particular on our group's work on using colloidal quantum dots - quantum-size-effect-tuned nanoparticles - to build increasingly efficient single- and multi-junction photovoltaic devices. I will review advances in understanding electronic transport, optical properties, and inner device physics in these systems; and will also review the prospects of enhanced photonic behaviour leveraging geometric optics, nanostructuring, and plasmonics.

Biography:

Ted Sargent received the B.Sc.Eng. (Engineering Physics) from Queen's University in 1995 and the Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Photonics) from the University of Toronto in 1998. He is Professor in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto, where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology. He also serves as Vice Dean for Research in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. His research has been published in Nature, Science, Nature Materials, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Photonics, and Nature Chemistry. His book The Dance of Molecules: How Nanotechnology is Changing Our Lives (Penguin) was published in Canada and the United States in 2005 and has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, and Arabic. He is founder and CTO of InVisage Technologies, Inc. He is a Fellow of the AAAS “...for distinguished contributions to the development of solar cells and light sensors based on solution-processed semiconductors.” He is a Fellow of the IEEE “... for contributions to colloidal quantum dot optoelectronic devices.”