**CANCELLED** Light Harvesting with Nanoparticles: From Quantum Dot Solar Cells to Plasmonic Metachromophores

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

4:30pm | 203 Teer Building

Presenter

David S. Ginger , Professor and Raymon E. And Rosellen M. Lawton Distinguished Scholar in Chemistry, Adjunct Professor in Physics

Colloidal nanomaterials hold great promise in light harvesting applications ranging from solar cells to biosensors. Low bandgap semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots can harvest infrared photons from the solar spectrum in low cost, thin film, bulk heterojunction photovoltaics. Using photoinduced absorption spectroscopy, our group has recently identified several new materials for forming organic/inorganic
type-II bulk heterojunctions, and we have demonstrated the influence of local dielectric constant and colloid surface chemistry on carrier lifetime. We have also shown that metal colloids can be used to increase light absorption and generation of long-lived charge carriers by up to 300% in optically thin solar cell materials. Finally, we discuss how combinations of quantum dots and metal nanoparticles can exhibit unique collective properties such as apparent violations of Kasha’s rules.

Bio:
David S. Ginger earned dual B.S. degrees in chemistry and physics at Indiana University in 1997 with departmental honors and highest distinction, performing undergraduate research with V.E. Viola. He received a British Marshall Scholarship and an NSF Graduate Fellowship and completed his Ph.D. in physics with Neil Greenham in the Optoelectronics group at the University of Cambridge (UK) in 2001. After a joint NIH and DuPont Postdoctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University in Chad Mirkin's lab, he joined the faculty at the University of Washington in Seattle where he is currently Professor and Lawton Distinguished Scholar in Chemistry and Adjunct Professor of Physics. He has been named a Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, and the recipient of the 2008 ACS Unilever Award in Colloid and Surfactant Science. His research centers on the physical chemistry of conjugated polymers and nanostructured materials with applications in optoelectronics--especially thin film solar cells--and sensing. Ginger can be reached at the University of Washington, Department of Chemistry, Box 351700, Seattle, WA 98195-1700, USA; tel. 206-685-2331; fax. 206-685-8665; email ginger@chem.washington.edu and URL http://faculty.washington.edu/dginger/