ONDL scientist wins PhD prize for sustainability research

11 July 2013. Dr Bo LIU today received a World Future Foundation (WFF) PhD Prize for outstanding doctoral research in sustainability. Bo Liu did his PhD work on polymer organic solar cells at the ONDL, Departments of Physics and Chemistry, National University of Singapore. He has developed crosslinked polymer donor network: fullerene acceptor solar cells to boost the internal quantum efficiency of the well-known poly(3-hexylthiophene): phenyl-C61-butyrate methyl ester system from 70% to 90% (see Highlights:12/2012 Plastic solar cells: new morphology control to boost power efficiency). This breakthrough also provides a possibility to scale polymer organic solar cells to large areas without loss of performance due to its self-defined donor–acceptor morphology. Previously the loss of morphology control is a key problem in the manufacturing and stability of high-performance cells. “By taming this morphology bottleneck, Liu’s work shows that the crosslinked polymer network: fullerene cells further open a window to study the device physics and the optimization landscape of organic solar cells in general,” says Prof Peter Ho, PhD advisor to Bo Liu, and director of ONDL. These new results have been accepted for publication in Advanced Energy Materials. “'The award recognises the role of organic electronics in sustainable technologies for an energy-efficient future,” says Rui-Qi (Rachael) Png, mentor to Liu's work.

Dr Feng Lun, Founder and Board Chairman of WFF, said at the Award Ceremony that “this year’s winners are great role models for other young researchers.” The WFF is devoted to advancing the research and development of new environmental technologies for environment, sustainability and the metropolis of the future.