Welcome to the Collins Group at Washington State University. Our research is highly interdisciplinary, straddling physics, materials science, electrical engineering and chemistry. We specialize in developing and using synchrotron X-ray techniques to investigate carbon-based materials designed to have novel optoelectronic properties. We strive to understand how interactions of organic molecules and polymers in aggregate and at interfaces govern the creation, transport, and annihilation of excited and charged states that result in power generation/storage, illumination, sensing and information processing.
Recent News
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Thomas’ organic solar cell work published in J Materials Chemistry
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Graduate student Thomas Ferron’s work tying molecular mixing at interfaces to charge generation in organic solar cells (OSC) has been published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A. The work quantifies for the first time both the volume of the mixed phase and the efficiency of separating interfacial Charge Transfer states into free charges. A better than 99% correlation is revealed between these two phenomena in a model OSC system – made possible because both nanostructure and excited state dyanmics were measured on the exact same devices. Thomas’ analysis, furthermore, eliminates all other possible contributing factors … » More … -
Michael Anderson and Zachary Croft Present at SURCA
Undergraduate Seniors Michael Anderson [pictured] and Zachary Croft presented their thesis projects at the WSU Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA). They each put together a poster summarizing their findings and submitted their work for formal judging in the competition.Out of more than 250 posters, Michael Anderson won one of only 3 Engineering and Physical Sciences Crimson Awards – the highest award possible, which included a $300 prize. Congratulations Michael!
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