PhD Scholarship in organic electronics -Morphology control in all-polymer solar cells (2020 Entry)

• Tuition fee
• Monthly stipend (RMB4,500)
• Medical insurance with designate providers
• All above items are covered for up to 36 months based on satisfactory progression
• All regulations set out in the UNNC PGR Scholarship Policy apply

In addition to the above scholarship, successful candidates also have the opportunity to carry out paid teaching (after the completion of Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) training) or research assistant duties at UNNC since second year of their PhD programmes.

The above scholarship is to support research projects outlined under the following theme: 

Title of the theme:  Organic electronics -Morphology control in all-polymer solar cells 

Solar energy plays a role in solving serious environmental issues and the terawatt energy challenge the world is facing today. The pursuit of clean, renewable, cost-effective and high-performance photovoltaic technologies has attracted tremendous efforts in both academia and industry. Organic solar cells (OSCs) are emerging as next generation photovoltaic technology with low embedded production energy, which are flexible, light weight, optically transparent, environmentally friendly and readily to fabricate with low cost roll-to-roll printing technology. In order to accelerate the industrialization and commercialization of the OSCs, the development of large area OSCs, i.e., all-polymer solar cells (APSCs), which is adaptive to upscaling manufacture, is a must. 

Lower charge mobility of the conjugated polymers, issues related to the non-optimal bulk heterojunction (BHJ) morphology, including large phase separation, inhomogeneous internal phase composition, disordering of polymer chains and thus large geminate charge recombination are the primary challenges required to be tackled in order to achieve higher performance APSCs. In general, it is very hard to obtain ideal morphology in the as-cast films. Therefore, it is essential to take measures to achieve the active layers with good molecular stacking, proper domain size, high domain purity, and suitable vertical phase separation.

This PhD research programme aims at investigating the morphology control in the APSCs fabricated based on a series of PDI based polymer acceptors paired with appropriate polymer donors; and developing APSCs by novel device processing techniques, targeting at realizing highly efficient and stable APSCs and their manufacture technology. The programme shall:

1. investigate and establish the relevance between the molecular structure variation of several polymer acceptors, with the molecular stacking, orientation and the crystallinity and aggregates orientation, thus the inner nanomorphology of the photoactive layer, finally the device performance under various device processing conditions;
2. apply various morphology control methods during the APSCs device processing, such as, molecular weight tuning of the polymers, solvents and additives treatment, post annealing treatment, etc. in order to achieve an optimal blend morphology in the APSCs for facilitating efficient charge separation and percolation pathways, thus improve charge transportation mobilities and fill factor, finally the device performance. Referring to our previous work on morphology control, polymer donor and acceptor nanofibers fabricated with electrospinning technique will also be employed to control the nanomorphology of the blends;
3. develop the optimized device processing conditions and to realize high performance APSCs with the PCE upto 10%, based on the research findings on the morphology control of APSCs.

Informal inquiries may be addressed to Dr. Fei Chen (fei.chen@nottingham.edu.cn), but formal applications should follow the instructions in ‘How to apply’ section. Please specify 2003GCT_FC as scholarship reference code when submitting application.

PhD programmes at the UNNC are composed of 3 years research and a 1 year thesis pending period for full time PhDs. Full time PhDs are expected to submit their theses within a maximum of four years from initial registration. PhD supervision is undertaken jointly by academics from the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) and the University of Nottingham UK (UNUK). On successful completion, students will be awarded the University of Nottingham PhD degree, and no reference will be made on the degree certificate as to where the degree has been completed. The University of Nottingham PhD degree will be accredited by the Chinese Ministry of Education.

Applicants must have a first class honours undergraduate degree or 65% and above for a Masters’ degree from a British university, or the equivalent from other institutions.

Applicants must meet the required English language proficiency for the relevant subject area. IELTS 6.5 (minimum 6.0 in all elements) or its equivalent is required for Faculty of Science and Engineering (FoSE) scholarship applicants.

More details can be found on the ‘entry requirements’ page of the website.

No separate application is required for applying for a scholarship but please make sure you quote the scholarship reference number in your PhD application form. It normally takes 7-8 weeks for a final decision to be made after the closing date. List of required documents can be found on the ‘how to apply’ page.