2 mill. DKK from the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation for new research project
Luciana Tavares from NanoSYD at The Mads Clausen Institute (MCI) just received a grant of 2 million kroner from the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation|Danish Council for Technology and Innovation for a project about investigations of a new optoelectronic component with applications within areas such as light sources, solar cells, and sensors.
The project will focus on the development and the studies of a new type of optoelectronic component – a hybrid based on so-called nanowires. Today, inorganic (not carbon-based) semiconductor materials with excellent electrical properties are most common, but organic (carbon-based) semiconductor materials are gaining momentum. “The advantage of the organic components is that by chemical techniques different organic molecules can be produced that have exactly those properties that one would like to use”, explains Luciana Tavares, who finished her PhD studies at the MCI about the integration of organic nanofibers by soft-transfer techniques and nanostencilling in 2011.
In this project the two material types, the organic and the inorganic nanowires, will be combined in order to harness their respective strengths in a new type of hybrid component. The interface of these two materials is the core part in actual applications such as solar cells or organic light-emitting diodes. To apply the new properties of this hybrid it is important to understand the processes connected with the charge transport across the interface of the materials. For this purpose, measurements on microscopic scale will be made with new state-of-the-art characterisation techniques. “Such an understanding is essential for the further development of new, efficient energy technology”, says Luciana.
The project will be carried out in cooperation by NanoSYD, which has expertise within organic nanotechnology and the research group of Professor Alf Mews at the University of Hamburg, which takes a leading role within the field of inorganic nanowires and a special microscopy technique for investigating such structures.