Nobel Laureate Unveils Secrets of "Plastic" Solar Cells
Prof Alan Heeger, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 2000, today (Friday) unveiled to a packed lecture hall at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology the secrets of "plastic solar cells" with the world's highest energy efficiency rating for such cells made with organic materials.
This was part of a series of Distinguished Lectures hosted by the University's Institute of Advanced Study.
"I am excited to have led a research team that created a new low-cost 'tandem' organic solar cell with 6.5% efficiency, the highest record for solar cells made with organic materials. This technology is now under active development toward commercialization, and is expected to have significant contribution to meeting the energy needs of our planet in the future." said Professor Heeger.
Prof Heeger is currently Professor of Physics at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Director of the Institute for Polymers and Organic Solids. Together with two other professors, Prof Heeger won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the discovery and development of conductive polymers.
Prof Heeger is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.
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About The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) (www.ust.hk) is a world-class research university that focuses on science, technology and business as well as humanities and social science. HKUST offers an international campus, and a holistic and interdisciplinary pedagogy to nurture well-rounded graduates with global vision, a strong entrepreneurial spirit and innovative thinking. HKUST attained the highest proportion of internationally excellent research work in the Research Assessment Exercise 2014 of Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee, and is ranked as the world’s best young university in Times Higher Education’s Young University Rankings 2019. Its graduates were ranked 16th worldwide and top in Greater China in Global University Employability Survey 2018.
