professor matt carnie
Photovoltaic Materials, Thermoelectrics and Device Physics Lead
Matt’s research broadly encompasses Energy Materials & Devices in two main areas – photovoltaics and thermoelectrics.
Photovoltaics
As part of the SPECIFIC-IKC, Sêr Solar, and SPARC II research projects, Matt’s research area focuses on solution processed photovoltaic materials and device physics. Matt’s PV research group utilizes frequency domain techniques such as Impedance Spectroscopy or Intensity Modulated Photovoltage Spectroscopy (IMVS); or time resolved measurements such as Transient Photovoltage / Photocurrent Decay and photo-CELIV, to characterize carrier transport, recombination and mobility in photovoltaic devices, with a particular interest in quantifying loss mechanisms when increasing device size from lab scale to pilot scale, and in the characterization of degradation mechanisms.
Two projects started in mid-2018. One develops ultra-light weight flexible tandem silicon/perovskite solar cells in collaboration with IQE plc. The second is a collaboration between Materials Engineering and Computer Science to develop the next generation of novel perovskite powered IoT devices.
Thermoelectrics
Matt leads SPECIFIC’s newest research activity on novel solution processable thermoelectric materials and devices, focusing on organic and hybrid materials.