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Department of Physics and Astronomy Collins Research Group

Devin publishes in-situ polysoap micelle nanostructure

Graduate student Devin Grabner’s work on characterizing in-situ nanostructure and loading of novel polysoap micelles has been published in Langmuir. The work reveals the impressive capture and loading of aromatic cargo for therapeutics and water purification.  In-situ characterization shows this is due to an open corona structure likely controlled through macroion charging.  The work titled “Molecular weight-independent “polysoap” nanostructure characterized via in-situ resonant soft X-ray scattering” was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Phillip Picket at the University of Southern Mississippi and NIST as well as former Collins Lab postdoc Dr. Terry McAfee now at Berkeley National Laboratory.  Congratulations to all authors!

Read the article Molecular Weight-Independent “Polysoap” Nanostructure Characterized via In Situ Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering | Langmuir (acs.org)

Chris and Elijah Present their Theses at the WSU Physics Symposium

Undergraduate physics majors Chris Lum and Elijah Allen presented posters of their thesis work in the Collins lab at the WSU Physics and Astronomy Fall 2023 Symposium.

Chris’ thesis is titled “Charge mobility of organic semiconductors.” Chris measured the hole mobility in the OLED polymer F8BT using the space charge limited current technique on devices he fabricated.

Elijah’s thesis is titled “Comparing solvent processes for organic solar cells.” Elijah measured radiative and non-radiative voltage losses in solar cells printed via different solvents using absorption spectroscopy and quantum efficiency techniques.

Congratulations to Chris and Elijah!

Acacia Patterson Defends her Master’s Project


Graduate student Acacia Patterson has successfully defended her Master’s Thesis Project titled “Morphology-driven comprehensive charge loss analysis of organic photovoltaics processed with non-halogenated solvents.” Her project focused on quantifying all fundamental losses in the model system PCDTBT:PCBM and correlating these to morphological changes from replacing the traditional toxic halogenated solvent processing with non-halogen processing. She plans to publish this work and continue on in the lab for a PhD in Materials Science. Congratulations Acacia!

New Additive Halts Runaway Crystallinity in OPVs published in ACS Energy Letters

New work on a better processing additive for OPVs lead by gradstudent Obaid Alqahtani has been published in ACS Energy Letters. The highest OPV efficiencies, now reaching 20% solar power conversion efficiency, are obtained by solvent additives that enhance nanodomain/crystallinity formation, but often result in runnaway crystallization with small processing fluctuations. the new work shows that a new solvent additive eliminates this problem while still enhancing device performance. Gradstudent Awwad Alotaibi as well as REU undergraduate student Michael Burnes are coauthors on the study, which was published in the American Chemical Society’s lead journal for energy research. Congratulations Obaid and coauthors!

Green Additive Limits Runaway Crystallinity in PM6:Y6 Organic Solar Cells but Causes Field-Independent Geminate Recombination | ACS Energy Letters

Obaid Alqahtani Passes his PhD Defense

Obaid Alqahtani successfully defended his PhD dissertation entitled “Structure-property correlations in heterojunction organic solar cells across material systems via synchrotron X-ray techniques”. He completed his candidacy with his PhD committee including advisor Assoc. Prof. Brian Collins (Chair), Prof. Katie Zhong, and Prof. Matthew McCluskey. Obaid will continue in the group this summer as a postdoc before teaching at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia in completion of his PhD Fellowship commitment.

Congratulations Obaid!

Emma Speight Awarded Outstanding Student in Physics

Undergraduate Emma Speight was awarded the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Senior in Physics ceremony for all programs in the College. Here thesis work in the Collins Lab involved optical investigations of printed organic electronic active layers under different conditions. She is pictured with Collins and Prof. of Physics Fred Gittes.

Emma will continue her education in graduate school at the University of Oregon. Congratulations Emma!

Elijah Allen and Chris Lum Receive Research Scholarships

Undergraduate physics majors Chistopher Lum and Elijah Allen have each received research scholarships to work on their thesis projects in the Collins Lab this summer. Chris was awarded the Ellen Hauge Abelson Endowed Scholarship in Sciences and Elijah was awarded the Leo Millam Undergraduate Research Scholarship. On top of the prestigious honor recognizing their potential as STEM leaders, they each receive $4000 to enable them to focus on their undergraduate research this summer which focuses on excited state dynamics in organic electronic devices. Congratulations!

New Lab Course on Xeuss Beamline Trains Gradstudents in X-ray Science

The new PHYS/CHEM 511 Course Advanced X-ray Characterization focuses on hands-on training of the new Xeuss 3.0 X-ray beamline instrument. Co-taught by Prof Liane Moreau in Chemistry and Prof Brian Collins in Physics, the inaugural course is teaching 22 Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering graduate students X-ray science from fundamentals through actual measurement and analyses of nanostructure within thin film coatings to suspended nanoparticles to bulk heterogeneous materials. The course is expected to be taught every two years.

The 5m-long Xeuss 3.0 instrument has four separate X-ray micofocused tube sources that include the latest generation of optics developed by Xenocs: Collimated Cu and Mo sources for small-angle scattering, a focused high-intensity Cu source for wide-angle scattering/diffraction, and a lensless Cu source for imaging of heterogeneous material domains that enables targeting of subsequent X-ray scattering experiments within domains. The instrument also includes the BioCube capillary flow stage with in-line UV-vis spectroscopy for acqueous samples. Other sample stages include capillary and bulk transmission stages with temperature control as well as a temperature-controlled precision grazing incidence stage.

Four Undergraduates Present Thesis Posters at the Fall Physics Symposium

Photo: From Left to Right: Derrick Adams, Catherine Martin, Emma Speight, and Hunter Gedicke

Undergraduates Emma Speight, Catherine Martin, Hunter Gedicke, and Derrick Adams presented their project posters summarizing their Physics thesis work done with the Collins Group at the Fall Undergraduate Physics & Astronomy Poster Symposium. The Symposium included over a dozen posters from seniors preparing to graduate (most in the spring) as a part of their required PHYS 490 course on Science Communication.

Each student led their project in a team that included a graduate student and PI Collins:

  • Derrick Adams with Awwad Alotaibi: Measuring Radiative and Non-Radiative Charge Pair Recombination on Organic Photovoltaics
  • Emma Speight with Victor Murcia: Dynamics of Ordering of Conductive Polymer Films Printed Under Controlled Airflow
  • Catherine Martin with Tamanna Khan: Experimental Design Considerations to Determine the Environmental Effects on Polymer Mixed Ion/Electron Conducting Devices
  • Hunter Gedicke with Awwad Alotaibi: Methods and Accuracy for Analysis of OLED’s JV Curves

The PHYS 490 course culminates in a written thesis as well. A prerequisite course, PHYS 489, requires students to complete a project with a research group at WSU. Often the students start this project in the fall and complete it in the summer with supplemental funding provided by a variety of internal funding sources.