Electron transport (and its failure) in energy materials

高效的光伏发电技术可以从根本上加速向低碳能源的过渡。其中一个高效率的概念是中间带光伏（IBPV），它可以通过采用纯半导体并添加新元素来制造能够吸收更多太阳光谱的新材料。为了找到最好的新材料，我们必须了解有多少吸收的能量在一个称为非辐射复合的过程中损失为热量。在IB材料中描述这些过程的工具还不存在。我们将开发预测候选材料中非辐射复合的方法。我们将结合联合收割机这些结果与功能器件的模拟，以产生一个路线图的材料性能，必须实现高效率IBPV。我们也将探讨光合作用的物理在自然和人工发生的叶绿素聚集。一些光饥饿的细菌有大的，管状排列的细菌叶绿素分子称为叶绿体。这些系统具有令人感兴趣的有序和无序的组合，它们已经证明自己是传输能量的最有效的天然材料之一。我们将研究无序在叶绿体和人工光合复合物内能量运输中的作用。我们将增加我们对光合作用的理解，并制定人工光合系统的设计规则。推进这些项目的研究生将获得凝聚态物理学的基本技能，以及对光子学和量子生物学的跨学科视角。拥有这些技能的高素质人员对于在开发新材料和提高加拿大技术能力方面取得进一步进展至关重要。

Highly efficient photovoltaics could radically accelerate the transition to low-carbon electricity sources. One such high-efficiency concept is the intermediate band photovoltaic (IBPV), which can be made by taking pure semiconductors and adding new elements to create new materials able to absorb more of the solar spectrum. To find the best new materials, we must understand how much of that absorbed energy is lost to heat in a process called nonradiative recombination. The tools to describe these processes in IB materials do not yet exist. We will develop methods to predict nonradiative recombination in candidate materials. We will combine these results with simulations of functional devices in order to produce a roadmap for material properties that must be achieved to make high efficiency IBPV. We will also explore the physics of photosynthesis in naturally and artificially occurring aggregates of chlorophyll. Some light-starved bacteria have large, tubular arrangements of bacteriochlorophyll molecules called chlorosomes. These systems have intriguing combinations of order and disorder, and they have proven themselves to be among the most efficient natural materials for transporting energy. We will study the role of disorder in the transport of energy inside both chlorosomes and artificial photosynthetic complexes. We will increase our understanding of photosynthesis and make design rules for artificial photosynthetic systems.The graduate students advancing these projects will gain essential skills in condensed-matter physics and an interdisciplinary perspective on photovoltaics and quantum biology. Highly qualified personnel with these skills are essential to further progress in developing novel materials and advancing Canadian technological capacities.