The ARUA Centre of Excellence in Energy’s Carnegie Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr Newayemedhin A. Tegegne is currently conducting research into the role of electrostatic interaction in the active layer of plastic solar cell on charge generation and recombination dynamics.

Due to the multi-step nature of charge photogeneration in solar cells, time resolved approaches are a powerful tool for directly probing the processes in real time. As part of this effort, Dr Tegegneand her team are keeping track of the charge transfer kinetics in plastic solar cells across time intervals as short as 100s of femtoseconds. The current finding illustrated the crucial role of electrostatic interaction between the components of the solar cell active layer that donate and accept electrons on the ultrafast charge generation and recombination dynamics. The results will serve as a guide for selecting organic semiconductors rationally for effective organic solar cells.

The Centre of Excellence in Energy is glad be supporting Dr Tegegne in her work and looks forward to more insights and findings of this innovative research.