The Clean Energy Project

With oil production peaking in the near future, alternative sources of energy will become increasingly important. Our research aims at predicting the properties of the diverse organic, inorganic, biological, and nano-systems that might be involved in the generation and storage of alternative energy sources. In particular, organic and nanoparticle/organic photovoltaic solar cells have the promise of a low manufacturing cost. At this moment, these solar cells have relatively low efficiencies. We are studying the physical mechanisms of solar energy absorption in these materials to understand them at the microscopic level and learn about possible strategies for improving their efficiency, thereby making them cost-effective. Our goal is to understand and predict the effects of material morphology on the exciton, electron and hole-transport properties of the device.

Please join our effort to find new solar cell materials by joining the World Community Grid Clean Energy Project! By contributing your computer time, you will be helping discover the properties of thousands of molecules that are candidates for organic solar cells. More information can be found at the Clean Energy Project website.