The development of high-efficiency, stable perovskite solar cells (PSCs) depends on a comprehensive understanding of molecular interfaces, which are crucial in influencing charge transport, passivation, and overall stability. This symposium invites contributions on recent advances in interfacial engineering for PSCs, examining how optimized interfaces can enhance charge transport properties, suppress recombination, and improve device stability under operational conditions. Topics will cover novel approaches to interface passivation, the design of selective charge transport layers, and strategies for mitigating ionic migration—all with an emphasis on stability.
The role of surface treatments, grain boundary engineering, and advanced molecular passivation in preserving perovskite integrity will be highlighted. Advanced characterization techniques that provide insights into interface dynamics will be included. This symposium, planned to be two days, aims to bring together leaders from materials science, chemistry, and photovoltaic research to foster discussions on overcoming interfacial limitations in PSCs. By advancing our understanding of interface design and characterization, this event seeks to address both performance and stability, setting the foundation for the commercialization of reliable, high-performance perovskite solar technologies.
Solar RRL best contribution prize valued as a Tango Gift Card (valued at 150€)
- Emerging photovoltaics
- Perovskite solar cells
- Charge transport layers
- Device performance
- Stability
Dr. Randi Azmi received his Ph.D. from Kookmin University in South Korea in 2020, during which time he was also affiliated with the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) as a senior researcher. He was a Postdoctoral Researcher (2020) and then promoted as a Research Scientist (2024) at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. He is currently an Assistant Professor and Presidential Young Fellow at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen (CUHK-SZ), China. He is now the leading HEROLAB “Heterojunction Materials for Renewable Energy Lab. His group is interested in performing extensive research on high-efficiency organic and inorganic hybrid heterojunction thin-film-based single- and multi-junction solar cells. The group's objective is to develop next-generation solar cell technologies that are both efficient and stable. With this emphasis, his group approaches technological advancements from a variety of disciplines, covering fields from novel materials to device fabrication, involving process and material optimization, and evaluating solar cells in realistic working environments, with the goal of advancing them to an industrial level.
He has authored/co-authored over 45 papers (h-index = 30, citations over 4300) in renowned journals, such as Science (4), Nature (2), Joule (3), Nature Communication (2), Advanced Materials (2), Advanced Energy Materials (7), and ACS Energy Letters (7), etc. In 2022, he received the ASEAN Young Scientist Award for his exceptional contributions to science, technology, and innovation pioneer. He was recently awarded the Outstanding Young Talent Program (overseas) by the National Natural Science Foundation of China 2024 and Shenzhen Talent Peacock 2024.
I am a Research Associate Professor at Northwestern University. I received my Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Arizona State University, focusing on understanding defects in 2D materials. Before joining Northwestern, I completed postdoctoral training at the University of Toronto, where I studied perovskites, quantum dots, and their optoelectronic devices. Currently, my research centers on defect passivation and enhancing the stability of interfaces in perovskite solar cells.
I have been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in the Cross-Field category by Clarivate and featured in Stanford/Elsevier’s list of top 2% scientists worldwide. As a first or corresponding author, I have published 18 high-impact papers, including Science, Nature, Nature Energy, and Nature Photonics, contributing to a total of over 120 publications. My work has received more than 20,000 citations, with a Google Scholar h-index of 67.
Philip Schulz holds a position as Research Director for Physical Chemistry and New Concepts for Photovoltaics at CNRS. In this capacity he leads the “Interfaces and Hybrid Materials for Photovoltaics” group at IPVF via the “Make Our Planet Great Again” program, which was initiated by the French President Emmanuel Macron. Before that, Philip Schulz has been a postdoctoral researcher at NREL from 2014 to 2017, and in the Department of Electrical Engineering of Princeton University from 2012 to 2014. He received his Ph.D. in physics from RWTH Aachen University in Germany in 2012.
Stefan Weber (born 1981) studied Physics at the University of Konstanz. Already as an undergrad student he started to work with an SFM in the group of Prof. Leiderer. For his diploma thesis under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Johannes Boneberg he studied the interaction of gold nanoparticles with pulsed laser light. In 2007, he joined the group of Prof. Butt at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Reaearch (MPI-P), Mainz. During his PhD, he spent six months at Seoul National University, Korea, in the groups of Prof. K. Char and Prof. C. Lee. In 2010 he received a joint doctoral degree from Mainz University and SNU. In 2011 he went to University College Dublin as a Feodor Lynen Fellow (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation) to join Prof. Brian Rodriguez and Prof. Suzi Jarvis. In 2012 he became a group leader in the Physics of Interfaces group in the department of Prof. Hans-Jürgen Butt at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P), Mainz. From 2015 to 2023 he held a junior professor postition in the Physics department of Mainz University. Sind June 2023, he is a permament group leader at the Institute for Photovoltaics at University Stuttgart, where he heads the Nanoscale Microscopy and Characterization group. In 2024, he won an ERC Consolidator grant for the development of a Photovoltaic Microscope that combines nanoscale electrical imaging with high-resolution optical microscopy and ultrafast spectroscopy