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Department of Physics and Astronomy Collins Research Group

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

Devin Grabner – 2023 ALS User Meeting Invited Speaker & Planning Committee Member

Devin Grabner played a dual role at this year’s Advanced Light Source (ALS) User Meeting & Visioning Workshops. As a member of the Users’ Executive Committee, he helped organize the week’s plenary talks, events, and workshops, which celebrated the 30th anniversary of the first light and discussed the future of the ALS. In addition, Devin was invited to present his cutting-edge research on the development of a Liquid In-Situ Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering technique during the “X-Ray Scattering for Complex Materials and Interfaces at the ALS: Data Acquisition and Analysis” tutorial on the first day of the User Meeting. The meeting tutorials and visioning workshops were valuable opportunities to exchange ideas and insights on the latest developments in the field.

One of the highlights of the event was a lunch meeting with Dr. Dava Keavney, the Program Manager for X-ray Light Sources at the U.S. Department of Energy – Scientific User Facilities. Devin was among the group of researchers invited to discuss current U.S. Department of Energy policies and positions related to X-ray Light Sources such as the ALS. The photo below pictures the group, including Devin, and Dr. Dava Keavney (far right).

Devin Grabner Awarded Advanced Light Source Doctoral Fellowship

As a 5th-year Physics Ph.D. Candidate in our group, Devin Grabner has been awarded a prestigious doctoral fellowship at Berkeley National Laboratory – Advanced Light Source (LBNL – ALS).

An ALS Doctoral Fellowship allows student researchers to work at the frontier of synchrotron radiation research and to help advance state-of-the-art techniques and applications. Students who have passed their Ph.D. qualifying or comprehensive exams and advanced to candidacy can apply to spend a year in residence at LBNL, working closely with an ALS staff member. Fellows acquire hands-on scientific training and develop professional maturity to complement their doctoral research. Applicants must be full-time students currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in the science or engineering disciplines and pursuing research that will benefit from ALS capabilities.

 

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.