webhodges.ece.utep.eduThin Film PV and Radiation Detector Research

Thin Film Photovoltaics and Radiation Detectors Home PI Group Facilities Latest Updates International Travel to the United Kingdom Visited Imperial College London, the Department of Bioengineering - hosted by Marshall Scholar Ophelia Johnson. Traveled to the University of Oxford and Professor Henry Snaith’s Photovoltaic and Optoelectronic Device Group at the Clarendon Laboratory - hosted by Marshall Scholar Kelly Schutt. Brookhaven National Lab National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS II) user of the SRX 5-ID beamline for XRF and XANES. Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) user probing perovskites using PL, XPS, SEM/FIB and AFM techniques. NREL Participation in NREL’s Hands-On Photovoltaics Experience (HOPE) program. El Paso Electric Company The Renewable and Emergent Technologies Team at El Paso Electric Company provided tours of their newest Community Solar facility and the Stanton Tower Solar System to a large group of students from our Applied Photovoltaics, Renewable Energy and Energy Sustainabilty courses. Contact Deidra R. Hodges, Ph.D. Email: drhodges@utep.edu Hybrid Inorganic-Organic Perovskite Halide Photovoltaics The fundamental scientific and engineering research in the design and realization of new electronic materials for thin film photovoltaics (PV) for flexible electronics is being investigated. A significant portion of this research effort is devoted to investigating, researching and developing special optical materials for thin film PV. Thin film polycrystalline low cost alternatives to silicon have emerged. Recently, the methylammonium lead tri-iodide CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 perovskites have attracted a lot of attention as a possible absorber material for thin film solar cells due to their bandgap energy, high optical absorption coefficients and low-cost solution-processing deposition approaches. Perovskite absorber materials are very inexpensive to synthesize and simple to manufacture, making them an extremely commercially viable option. Our research focuses on the investigation, study and development of efficient and cost effective perovskite thin films and solar cells. Our group is also investigating tandem solar cells with perovskite and silicon solar cells; lead-free perovskites with lead replaced by tin; and other novel approaches. Gamma and X-ray CZT Room Temperature Radiation Detectors Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT), a semiconductor material is well suited for good charge collection efficiency and high energy resolution room temperature gamma-ray radiation detection. Room temperature CZT detectors are being investigated in collaboration with BNL’s Nonproliferation and National Security group. Research is required to improve quality, compositional homogeneity, and the charge-transport characteristics of CZT crystals, to increase the yield and lower the cost. In support, our group fabricate and characterize CZT detectors, prepare and polish CZT crystals. Spectrums are collected and analyzed. Current-voltage ( I-V ) measurements are performed. Resistivities, leakage current, drift time, amplitute and mobility-lifetime ( mt ) product is analyzed. The University of Texas at El Paso, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department 500 W. University Ave., El Paso TX...